Occupied by German forces from September 1943, Florence saw its art treasures moved to villas in the countryside. As the Allies approached in August 1944, the Germans blew up every bridge over the Arno except the Ponte Vecchio, destroying the medieval streets at its ends. Partisans fought street by street in the northern districts while British and South African troops entered from the south.
Here in the story
Home
Hana stays behind with her dying patient in a bombed-out monastery, joined by a Sikh sapper and a tortured Canadian spy.
Here in the story
Battle
An American nurse and a partisan cross the Arno through the Vasari Corridor into the half of the city where fighting still rages.
