Piedimonte San Germano - Cassino

This stage crosses three municipalities: Piedimonte San Germano, Villa Santa Lucia, and Cassino. From Piedimonte San Germano, the road takes the Via Scolastica which leads to the little church where it is said that Saint Benedict would meet his sister Scholastica once a year. The path is narrow and pleasant as it runs alongside the mountain that ends with the hill where the Abbey stands.

You then cross the border into Cassino and after a short while you arrive at the Gianfilippo Carettoni National Museum and enter the Archaeological Park "Casinum". The Park is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM (in winter) and from 8:30 AM to 7:00 PM (in the summer period). In this place, you thus re-enter Roman history. In this area, you can admire, in addition to the remains of the polygonal walls, the theatre, the mausoleum of Unmidia Quadratilla, and the Amphitheatre.

The Amphitheatre was built in the 1st century AD at the request of Unmidia Quadratilla, as recalled by a plaque found in 1757 from which it appears that it was the same matron who financed its construction herself.

The National Archaeological Museum named after Gianfilippo Carettoni was built in 1966 against the walls of the ancient Casinum. The Museum exhibits important artifacts that document the development of the city and the territory from prehistoric-protohistoric times to the late ancient period, among which are the famous sword of Saint Victor (4th-2nd century BC), the athlete/hero of Cassino, and the funerary bed of Aquinum.

For information: tel.: +39 0776 301168 e-mail: drm-laz.mucassino@cultura.gov.it

Cassino

This stage is somewhat special because, being located at the exit of the Museum, one cannot take the road to San Vittore without stopping for a few days in Cassino, not only to rest but, above all, to enjoy the historical and cultural heritage that this place offers. In fact, if you turn left and go up, you will reach the Abbey of Montecassino.

Can you continue along the Francigena in the South without visiting it? Impossible!.

If you go down to the right, you will reach the center of Cassino. Once here, can you forgo visiting the Historiale and paying tribute to the statue of the Polish general Andersen in the square dedicated to him? We don’t think so!. And what about the military cemeteries? The Polish one at the foot of the Abbey and those of the Commonwealth, near the University (UNICAS) and the German one (in Caira) don't deserve a visit? Certainly they do!. And does the Great Path of Memory that passes through the places where the famous four Battles of Montecassino took place during World War II not deserve to be followed, at least in part?

You see that you need to stay in Cassino for a few days and visit all these places. You will leave richer and you will be able to tell your friends about it.

Perhaps you will even decide to return with even more time at your disposal.