Expedice Itálie 2017

Introduction

When last year a leaked report, that the company Eduard preparing a limited edition kit of the Italian fighter jets Mckee C.202, I had no idea that it was indirectly sent the signal, at the end of which was this year's trip to the surroundings of Rome with a visit to a few museums, memorials, etc. Another impulse to the realization of this trip was the invitation of a well-known Italian modeller Maurizzia to Terlizziho that in the preparation of the kit involved, together with Martin Nademlejnským from Eduard, in his "private" museums at the military air base of Pratica di Mare.

After a few experiences of the tours with Admin I think according to his pattern he established on google.maps private the travel map and started with a virtual zapícháváním pins symbolizing places of interest, such as for us museums, monuments, restaurants, MC Donalds, cemeteries and minor cemeteries. Well, you wonderful Adminovy almost monotématické tours all initiation, right? After all, a person to drag out all this way just to chat with one Italian and visited one museum that
After the verification plan the majority of the participants agreed that to Rome, we'll fly and rent a car, which everything needed to tour, than to pull 15 hours in a car. After the very painful stages of arranging all the formalities, which I'm not prefer to vent and re-pour salt on your already partially healed wounds, managed to sort of to plan, arrange and book all the essentials..

Sunday, 18.June 2017
In the afternoon departure from the airport Vaclav Havel in Prague, and after nearly two hours of peaceful flight landing in Rome at Fiumicino airport, where we had a car waiting. It us indeed expected, but the problem occurred with the payment card, we all had cards, but only debit and not credit. This condition for the lease of the car I somehow slipped, because the car did not fall into my area of preparation, however, after an hour and 40 minutes we managed to loudly applauded by a large group of waiting customers leave the office with keys in hand. It was a Renault Scenic instead of the unavailable VW Turan, we didn't care. So just for info, watch out for tyk "kerditky".

Before us was an hour drive the night Italy the aim of which was the apartment in the seaside town of Nettuno. Here lived the traditional night life, what is known of all seaside towns in the south of Europe and so interlace narrow jednosměrnými streets was quite fun. However, navigation help, and we were waiting before the relevant no. at the man who had a pass key from the apartment. The young Italian, partly controlling about 70 English words divert us to the first floor to the apartment rozlhohy about 2+kk. In one room of the creaky double bed, plus one folding camp bed, which pulled out of the closet and in the living room exploded, also rozherkaný, couch. We are not ladies, and for the money it was clean, no bed bugs. As a bonus we got a free password to the wifi. Well, I'm glad I had a data plan and my LTE worked fine What free was, so it was some kind of equivalent of our air, which is there by law in the amount of 6 EUR/day per person. So it is necessary to count that it will be after you want.

Then a visit to the night hub and the first ochtnávka a piece of pizza shortly re closing. Then just a stick figure disinfection and to sleep, the next day we waited Cassino..

Monday 19.June

In our fahrplanu had this day the designation "MC Day", but it goes without saying that this is not a Adminovy favorite "fast food" stops, but the famous Monte Cassino

The 140 km long road from the apartment to the parking lot at his own monastery took us a little over two hours. It was getting quite hot and the sky clear. So jump into the bowels of the replica of the monastery, which as you know fell victim to an attempt of the Allies to get to Rome.

The entrance to the monastery is free and it is possible to go through the outdoor spaces at will, just as it is possible to zradma view even the main chapel of the monastery. If someone wanted to go through the monastery more closely, it is possible to pay for a tour, during which he also gets into the "residential" area of the monastery, but our steps were directed elsewhere, and more specifically at about 1km distant Polish military cemetery, which is freely accessible terraces well visible. We decided to save your legs and time and so we to the cemetery moved the car and when you pay for parking at the monastery, as we do, so that according to the miss applies to a small parking lot near the cemetery, where, however, probably wasn't even a leg, and certainly not one that someone checked.

At the beginning of the access road to the cemetery is a small building, inside of which is on several sheets described the journey of the Polish units from 1.September 1939 to Monte Cassino. After a brief acquaintance with the history of the way the Polish of the valiant on this "famous" places already followed my own tour of the cemetery. The hotel is located in a flat saddle named Doliną Śmierci between the monastery and the dimension 593 and the last place of rest here found 1.072 soldiers who died during the battles of Monte Cassino. On 8.4.1965 here was buried field bishop Józef Gawlina, also a participant in the battles for Monte Cassino. And even later here was stored the ashes of general Władysław Anders, commander of the 2. ward, who died in exile in London and was buried here 18. may 1970.

After the tour of the cemetery our steps headed up to the dimension 539, where is found a monument to 3. carpathian infantry division the Polish 2.the choir, which during the bloody may days of 1944, the hill occupied. From this place one has of the surrounding countryside as on the palm of your hand, including the monastery itself and can get an idea how difficult a barrier this system of hills for the Allies to be.
To return to the parking lot, we chose the opposite side of the hill and after a sharp descent along the forest glade we visited the next a monument to the Polish tank corps. The foundation of this monument formed in may 1944 destroyed a Sherman tank, which was destroyed after hitting a German mine, when Polish troops tried to reach the monastery in this way. Side of the tank lies a discarded tower and over the tank is erected a cross made with tank tracks. What he told me a friend of Zbycho, so this monument was a few years ago thanks to the financial collection in Poland, repaired or restored, because its individual parts thanks to the local "magnets" přemisťovaly to the collection of raw materials. Sad
during the rest of the way towards the parking lot we pass the ruins of the farm Albanety, originally inhabited by benediktýnskými monks and in the fighting for the monastery this became the focal point of the German defense.

In the parking lot we were no longer alone. Got a local mobile shop with the offer of a different type of fruit, water, popcorn or something and the midwife had a single price of 1E per piece of anything.

When sliding down from the top to the Cassina we wanted to stop at the castle on the hill - the Rocca Janula, which was another strongpoint of the German defences, but it was closed, probably due to the fact that it was Monday and that's most of the monuments not only in Italy, closed.

In the town itself there is a museum dedicated to the battle of Cassino, but according to the poster offered for 12EUR only a few uniforms, a few pieces of rusty equipment and halls with printed panels, do a sweep, we decided him not to visit and prefer to find in the heart of the nearby monument in the form of a Sherman and the German anti-tank guns. Sherman we have found, but to find some mixed goods, where it would be possible to buy bottled water failed. So think of a drinking regime.

A few kilometers away was a visit to the Cassino War Cemetery, where he is buried 4,271 of members of the Commonwealth who died mostly in the fighting for Cassino. 289 graves hiding the remains of the unknown soldiers. In the middle of this cemetery, finds a visitor and a monument recalling the memory of the more than 4,000 soldiers of the british empire, who took part in the Italian campaign and whose final resting place are not known.

Our last stop though first, so nejnabitějšího of the day was German military cemetery lying in the village of Cairo of approximately 5km north of Cassina. The car we threw away in the parking lot under the cemetery and visited the place where he is buried 20.027 German soldiers who died not only during the battles of Monte Cassino, as well as during the battles of Salerno.

Then followed the path back to the apartment, a quick bath in the sea in Nettunu and search for some restaurants..

Tuesday 20.June

On this day we had only planned a visit to the air museum of Vigna di Valle. Since, we didn't have much of an idea about the scale of this museum, I counted on his tour of the whole day, which subsequently proved to be too much. However, for the air the hobbyist is the optimal time of about 3 – 4 hours depending on how much they want to take pictures. Certainly, to when I go next time, I'll be here again for at least 4 hours

After an hour and a half drive from Nettuna, during which we luckily got stuck in some more "štau" in the suburbs of Rome, we are coming out of the car in the parking lot at the museum. The museum is located on the southern shore of lake Bracciano, where previously it was including the test center pilots. However, as the sky again cleared out, the sun is beginning to burn, so relatively fast, but with effort , we're out in the bowels of the museum itself.

The museum is divided into four hangars, plus a few aircraft we can find exposed on the area in front of the hangars on the museum's campus. In the hangars named Troster, Velo, Scheme and Badoni, we find a fairly comprehensive collection of Italian aircraft from its inception to the recent past.
Hangar Troster, built after the first world war of the austrian money on the basis of repatriation, is the oldest building of this type in Italy and has an area of about 1200 m². In 1925 it was covered with metal plates. In this hangar there is an exhibition dedicated to the pioneers of aviation. Are to is seeing the following aircraft: Ansaldo AC.2, Ansaldo SVA.5, Caproni Ca.36, Lohner L-127, which is the only preserved in the world, Hanriot HD.1, .Also.T. Blériot XI-2, FALLOUT WITH.VII (Cabruna), FALLOUT WITH.VII (Ruffo) and Wright N°4.

Hangar Velo, whose construction was started and in 1976, to connect the hangars Troster and Badoni has an area of 3600 m² and represents a space where visitors will find exhibits from the period of 1928 to the beginning after 2. world war ii - Campini-Caproni 2, Caproni Ca.100, Fiat C.29, the Fiat CR.42 "Falco", Hispano HA-132-L (the Fiat CR-32), Librarian Bonomi BS.17 "Cantù", Mckee M.39, Mckee M.67, Mckee MC.72, the Imam Ro.41, the Imam Ro.43 and the SIAI WITH.5.

Hangar Badoni was built in 1930 and in particular thanks to its area of 3960 m² was used for the maintenance and storage of large seaplanes. Inside the large compartment are placed the aircraft with close links to period 2. world war. You can view such as Cant From.506S "Airone", Douglas C-47 "Dakota", Fiat G.46, Fiat G.55 "Centauro", the Fiat G.212, Fieseler Fi-156 "Storch", Mckee MC.200"Saetta", Nardi FN.305, Mckee C.202 "Folgore", Mckee C.205 "Veltro", North American P-51D "Mustang", SM.79 "Sparviero", SIAI SM.82 "Marsupiale",Supermarine Spitfire MK.IXe.

The construction of the last hangar Skema was launched in 1986 in order to increase the exhibition capacity of the museum and as the only one is a duplex. From all four hangars is with its area of 4200 m² the largest, with 3200 m2 falls on the ground floor and 1000 m2 of the upper floor. It is here exposed to many planes and a few helicopters from the post-war period, for example, Aerfer Ariete, Aerfer Sagittario 2, Aermacchi MB.323, MB.326 Aermacchi, Agusta Bell AB 0,204-B, Agusta Bell AB.47 G2, Agusta Bell AB.47 J, Canadair CL13 (F-86E) the"Sabre" MK-4, the De Havilland D.H.113 Vampire NF Mk.54, Fiat F-86K, the Fiat G.59 4B, Fiat G.80, Fiat G.91, Fiat G.91R, Fiat G.91T, Fiat G.91Y, Grumman HU-16A "Albatross", Grumman S2F-1 "Tracker", Lockheed F-104 "Starfighter", Lockheed RT-33, Mckee M.416, Mckee MB.308, North American T-6G "Texan", Panavia Tornado ADV, Piaggio PD.808, Republic F-84F "Thunderstreak", Republic F-84G "its predecessor", Republic RF-84F "Thunderflash", SAI in ambrosini "Kangaroo Hotel", in ambrosini Super S. 7, Stinson L-5 Sentinel.

Although there were everywhere signs that the space is monitored by cameras, it wasn't a problem for a minute, overcome your inhibitions and make you modelářsky grateful to "walk around". I guess when a person behaves decently and "carabinieri" at the monitor he sees that you have a real interest in the exhibits presented and nothing neničíte, so it does not solve.
Just to complement. The museum is military, i.e. the state and so it is entry completely free of charge. On Monday, there however, don't go, you'll break your car on a closed gate, as they are by default closed.

On the way back we stopped at lake Bracciano in the restaurant for lunch, bathed and continued back towards Nettuno. During the trip we made a short stop at the German military cemetery in Pomezii.
During the heavy fighting for the bridgehead, Anzio-Nettuna established to the north of the town of Nettuna Americans cemetery where to bury the fallen German soldiers. In 1946 she moved to american cemetery organization 2740 the remains of German soldiers on the territory near the town of Pomezia, which was in December 1946 the Italian government free left to for this purpose.
Other 3751 soldiers from several other cemeteries from the area Anzio and Nettuna was then to Pomezie moved to the German cemetery organizations. Between the years 1948 and 1955 the German cemetery organization moved into pomezie other 10704 of the dead, which were originally buried in the city cemeteries of Rome, Latin, Salerno, Avellino, Frosinone, L'Aquila, Chieti, Sienna and Pistoialy. On zákadě agreement between the German and the Italian government of 22.December 1955 was the Pomezie relocated other 10.228 of the dead Germans who were originally buried in the provinces or cities of Ancona, Arrezzo, Ascoli, Grosseto, Latina, Livorno, Macerata, Napoli, Perugia, Pesaro, Rieti, Rome, Siena, Terni, Viterbo and Reggio di Calabria. Total in Pomezii found a final resting place 27.443 German soldiers.

Then finally the return of the who Nettuna, the sea and the back of the restaurant ☺.

Wednesday 21.June

The third day was defined as a visit to the Museo Storico del Servizio Aereo della Guardia di Finanza, where we were invited, as I have already stated in the introduction, Maurizio de Terlizzim and that is its technical director.

A month before departure it was necessary to send the requested information on our people to be able to ahead of time to ensure entry. The reason is simple, the museum is located in the middle of a military air base of Pratica di Mare (Rome), near the coast and even if the museum has open day every Wednesday, it is necessary to book in advance.

Meeting with Maurizio was due at about 9:15 at the entrance to the base. The place we arrived on time and since we didn't know well nearby, we stopped at a cad directly in front of the gate, from where we were after a few seconds an armed soldier quickly banished. There is nothing more dangerous than an Italian with a machine gun, what he was tasked to watch something else than your girlfriend or a bowl of spaghetti

After the mutual identification and welcome to MdT and následním completion of the necessary paperwork at the gate we followed the vehicle of our guide and after a bit of zigzagging around the base parked in front of the museum.

I'm not ignorant bore the description of what we as a pathological modelers chewed the fat, so I will describe better just what is possible in the museum to see. In the museum is within the cross-section of the beautifully refurbished helicopters used by the financial police, to which the visitor gets a detailed interpretation - from his acquisition of the museum, through the various attractions during their restoration, or maintenance during their service etc. etc. Almost all of the helicopters, one plane, we could go or is personally familiar with it. Nothing was a problem. Maurizziova the idea about the museum is that everything was accessible to visitors to the exhibits were kept. So is the twice a year wash It sounds perfect, but it can do only at a low number of exhibits, which have.

At the exhibition area of the museum you can see the helicopter Nardi Hughes NH-500 M, Agusta Bell AB-47 G2, Agusta A-109 AII GF, Nardi Hughes NH-500 MC, Agusta Bell AB-47 J3 and Piaggio P-166 DL3. In addition, there are exposed to a variety of uniforms related to the financial police, various trainers, etc.
After this moment was our visit to this museum quite standard, what experiences anyone else who comes here will. We like the premium received even visit the police racing to the kitchen, a visit to the two hangars. In the first was the modernisation of machinery the Piaggio P.166, of which one kusjsme have seen already in the museum and in the second through vowing ATR 42 Surveyor. We could to the accompaniment and the interpretation of another from the financů view from the inside.

On the adjacent runway was a celebration of the anniversary of the experimental center and so we were partakers of a little of the air of the day. Compared to the official "kravatkám" we had the advantage of planes over our heads are spinning, or soared, attached beneath the boiler and so we get the sound effects really enjoyed. My winner was Panavia Tornado.

Then followed by two shots of grappa on the farewell.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon and we rolled towards the apartment and into the sea to wash..

Thursday 22.June

The fourth and penultimate day is here and before the us travel areas alone beachhead Anzio-Nettuna about that in 1944, hard fighting.

Wandering we have launched on Beach Head War Cemetery, which is a relatively small cemetery lying adjacent to the highway 207 5 miles north of Anzio, which is buried 2,316 soldiers of the Commonwealth, of which is 295 unknown. At the gate of the cemetery is a small parking lot and it is possible to visit at any time. From the point of view of the photographer it is good to this cemetery to visit in the afternoon, when it will shed light on the setting sunshine, and the inscriptions on the gravestones we do not take pictures against the light.

About 4 miles further south, almost at the very edge of the Anzio is another british cemetery, which also could not escape our visit. On the Anzio War Cemetery is buried 1037 soldiers. This place for the burial of the fallen was chosen shortly after the self disembarkation and it also corresponds to the composition of the original units of soldiers who are resting.
Like the previous one, so this cemetery it is possible to visit at any time.

The next stop in our plan was Anzio Beachhead Museum. Since the gate of the museum open until 10.30 and we didn't want to almost an hour wait on the street, we decided to go through the port part of the city and find a monument Angelity of Anzio. Anzio and after all Nettuno is not particularly different from other Italian mediterranean towns - everywhere smells like fish, when you get to the beach, you have shoes full of sand, terrible heat, as in el Salvador, 5 Italians drilling one hole in the wall and after about 20 minutes of walking we found it. respectively. the above-mentioned monument.

He recalls a young girl Angelita, which in Anzio after a heavy bombardment of the lost and the frightened have found in the middle of the beach the men of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, under the command of With.C. Hayes. You with her for a few days took the floor and tried to find her family, but unfortunately to no avail. After a few days it Heyesovi men left in the care of the staff of the Red cross and just crash minutes after it left there was an explosion of a grenade, which Angelita killed. After the war, Heyes to Anzio came back and tried to find the parents Angelity, but unfortunately to no avail. Heyes with his comrades-in-arms even began to doubt, whether do they even know its correct name. Since she was still an unknown she's become a legend of the city of Anzio. The statue, which was unveiled 22. January 1979 to commemorate all the innocent victims of war.

After making a few photos followed by a move to the museum, as it was approaching its opening hour. In front of the museum of the propeller from the German fokouše, the engine of Savoia Marcheti Sm.79 and some great engine of something, probably the floating. Free admission and we were standing in a relatively small room, full of photos, uniforms of the participants of both the warring parties, some of those "excavations" of the sea. On the wall the canvas, where it was screened b/w document with a link to the war in Italy and landing in the Anzio. Who about the landing in Anzio nothing at all don't know, the museum will benefit. But since I'm already a little loaded ahead of time, it seemed to me that the landing and the subsequent fierce fighting in the vicinity of Anzio could process better and in more detail and to attract into the city more tourists are interested in the field. In particular, when it is the only military museum in the city. But on the other hand, we must take into account that the museum is the result of the work of volunteers and they're doing what they can. However, the hour in this museum goes by like nothing.

On the way to the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial we still ... slowed down in the Italian version of "řopíku" built on the beach in the very center of the Anzio. For his mask Italian defenders used a special decoration in the form of welded plates, which gave bunker the appearance of a kind of minaret combined with the circus tent. According to me the production's own "camouflage" took significantly more time than their own vyšalování and the subsequent casting of the bunker made of concrete. A couple of pictures and go back to the air-conditioned Scénica and move on towards the american cemetery.

This is found in the northern part of the Nettuna, covers an area of 77 acres and from the main gate of the pond with the island and the tomb of the unknown soldier leads in a gentle hill, the main boulevard towards the central building of the monument. On both sides of the main road is located 7.861 graves of american soldiers marked with white crosses are arranged in gentle curves, Most of the persons there buried died in the being freed Sicily (10. July - 17. August 1943), on the beachhead at Salerno (9. September 1943) and in the subsequent I'm afraid with the procedure at the north, during the landing on the beaches in the Anzio and subsequent battles on the beachhead (22. January 1944 to may 1944) and in air and naval battles.

A nice lady in the visitor centre is one of the few local residents controlling a different language than Italian, and so is not a problem to get the "VIP" list of graves. Please see here the two holders of the MOH, 30 sibling pairs (21 buried next to each other), 16 women, 2 Tuskegee pilots etc. After about an hour spent at this quiet, but a sad place, we jumped in the car and we follow the direction of the Museo di Piana delle Orme distant about an hour away towards the east. Our last stop of this short vacation.

While I was looking on the net, as I searched, I couldn't find enough satisfactory information on this museum, so I more or less knew only that the admission is 12E per person, we find there F-104, a ground technique, pulled DD Sherman and P-40L and then already nothing much more concrete.
Web site of the museum is in Italian and contains just a few pictures techniques and even visitors to the museum much more nenafotili. So a little journey into the unknown.
For the foundation of the museum served the private collection of the flower of the entrepreneur Mariano De Pasquale, who for years collected the defacto whatever they could, regardless of whether it was large, small. And it also corresponds to the composition of the collections. The museum is similar to the German concentration camp and is divided into 6 and 6 oblong pavilions.
In the first 6 we find the exhibition of toys, I guess from the first half of the 20th.a century and a collection of not very well-built plastic construction kits of aircraft and ships. In other buildings we find a collection of various farm machinery from ploughs through tractors, bulldozers, threshers, etc., and panels describing the efforts Musolliniho to this, in the 30-ies of the drained area, to relocate from the north to the unemployed farmers. Just such a Potemkin village . The second half of the pavilions is already for the "warriors" interesting and contains exhibits related to the 2.world war. In several of them we will find surely interesting the collection of ground techniques, but the individual exhibits are so inflated, that shoot you. it is very difficult and I'm not talking about the not very satisfactory light conditions. A shame, a collection of Italian war vehicles would be better layout was certainly very interesting and probably unique. Individual buildings are thematically and chronologically broken down and then using diorám in the scale of 1:1, exposed uniforms, weapons and accompanying text signs meet with the action of Italy during 2.world war. Well about 3 hours spent in a stuffy room individual hal made her so exhausted we move to the car and back to the apartment.

Bath, dinner, wine and sleep..

Friday 23.June

The day of departure. Pack, unpack and move to the airport and return back home.

Recommendations for travel to Italy:

- having regard to the length of days and temperature in this field select the date of the visit this part of Italy the best on the second half of may
- observe the drinking mode, often you have during the day a chance to get anything non-alcoholic to drink
- don't confuse credit and debit card, otherwise are in the car rental sweat
- in English you just the most remarkable, as well as the menus are italian only
- The italians on the roads are not such killers, how could anyone think. Most of the rides on the well-being and as well as other things, so even maneuvers not a lot of
- carefully choose who you're going

If you had someone a question, so I písněte in the mail.

pajada, jako bych tam byl s vama! Jeste ze sem tam nebyl s vama ...

.... ano, mělo to jisté nedostatky. Zejména v personální stránce by se daly najít značné rezervy resp. tipy, koho příště nebrat