The Battle of Montecassino was a series of four assaults by the allies against the Winter Line in Italy held by the Germans and Italians. The intention was to get Rome. The German defenders were finally driven from their position, but it took so long from 17 January to 18 May 1944.
HOW TO GET MONTECASSINO FROM ROME
The first thing you have to know is that to go up to the abbey, visit the memorials, cemeteries, etc.. you will need a car. To reach Cassino from Rome there are two options:
- By train -> there is a train running from the Termini station in Rome. There is almost every hour and takes an hour and half to get to the station Cassino. To check out tickets and timetables you can visit www.trenitalia.com . The advance sale of tickets will only be available 7 days before departure of the train. If you go by train then you will have to rent a car there. There is an office of Hertz to 1.5 km from the station (you can see the location here ) and another from Avis to 2 km ( here ). You will have to book your car in advance because these offices have very few cars.
- By car from Rome -> Leaving Rome, take the highway towards Naples and also takes an hour and a half (if you can find the highway in a reasonable period of time). Once the road is located practically a straight line, we'll just look at the exit Cassino. If you clic here you can check the route with directions. I would advise hiring a car in Rome but be aware that driving in Italy is crazy and reaching the highway is a mess.
THE ABBEY
Location: here
Website: http://www.montecassino.it/
Opening hours: 8:00-12:00 and 15:30-17:00
Free admission.
Parking fee: 2 euros
The way up to the abbey is signposted throughout the town, so it's so easy to find it. Inside the abbey you can find some of the sculptures that survived the bombings of 1944 and you can see the damage caused by the shrapnel. The abbey was rebuilt after the war.
The abbey after the bombings of 1944 and today.
We can see the door to peace.
Sculpture with shrapnel damage.
It has a beautiful courtyard and the views are spectacular. From here we can see the Polish cemetery.
Views from the abbey. Polish cemetery.
