San Pietro & Cassino Project
A WWII Conflict Archaeology Investigation
The 2020 field season has sadly been cancelled, due to the coronavirus /Covid-19 pandemic.
We are now planning our next field season to be provisionally 12-25 Sept 2021 (subject to recruitment) or Spring 2022
Click here to show interest/provisionally reserve a place for season 2
The 2020 field season has sadly been cancelled, due to the coronavirus /Covid-19 pandemic.
We are now planning our next field season to be provisionally 12-25 Sept 2021 (subject to recruitment) or Spring 2022
Click here to show interest/provisionally reserve a place for season 2
Project Information
The Battle for Monte Cassino. It was the Stalingrad of the Italian Campaign. The German Wehrmacht, masters of defensive warfare, created a landscape of concealed machine-gun nests, deep dugouts, concrete bunkers, and underground tunnels, shelters, and command posts across the Italian landscape. American, Australian, Canadian, British, French, Indian, New Zealand, Polish, and South African soldiers fought for six months, between October 1943 and May 1944, to defeat them. The result was some of the most ferocious fighting of the Second World War. The total cost was 100,000 dead and wounded.
The abandoned hill-town of San Pietro Infine stands as a monument to this epic struggle. This will be the anchor of a ground-breaking new archaeological project – the first attempt at a comprehensive field-based investigation of an entire Second World War battlefield. Working closely with Italian colleagues and the local Italian community, Military History Live volunteers will begin our second field season in May 2020. Join us. Be a part of this major project. We will be recruiting for season 2 soon.
The Battle for Monte Cassino. It was the Stalingrad of the Italian Campaign. The German Wehrmacht, masters of defensive warfare, created a landscape of concealed machine-gun nests, deep dugouts, concrete bunkers, and underground tunnels, shelters, and command posts across the Italian landscape. American, Australian, Canadian, British, French, Indian, New Zealand, Polish, and South African soldiers fought for six months, between October 1943 and May 1944, to defeat them. The result was some of the most ferocious fighting of the Second World War. The total cost was 100,000 dead and wounded.
The abandoned hill-town of San Pietro Infine stands as a monument to this epic struggle. This will be the anchor of a ground-breaking new archaeological project – the first attempt at a comprehensive field-based investigation of an entire Second World War battlefield. Working closely with Italian colleagues and the local Italian community, Military History Live volunteers will begin our second field season in May 2020. Join us. Be a part of this major project. We will be recruiting for season 2 soon.
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Second Field Season 27th May - 9th June 2020
A team of specialists and volunteers were involved in the hugely successful first field season, which took place between 1-14 May 2019. Our focus was on the San Pietro Infine ruins/national monument and its wider landscape context, a swathe of mountain country extending from the slopes of Monte Lungo to the summit of Monte Sammucro, the site of the Battle of San Pietro, 8-17 December 1943. Our second field season will build on, and expand this work, with new specific areas of interest arising out of the first season's research. A testament to the success of the first season is that many of the volunteers have already signed up to return next year.
Military History Live is building partnerships with the San Pietro Infine community, with the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, and with other Italian organisations. We will be reporting to the local archaeological authorities, the Soprintendenza Archaeologia belle arti e paesaggio per le province di Caserta e Benevento. We will be publishing both formal reports and popular summaries, and will be involved in a wide range of public presentation and community-engagement activities.
All volunteers will be fully integrated into small work-teams under expert supervision, and will be rotated to ensure everyone experiences a range of activities, including excavation, survey, and wider battlefield exploration. Experienced archaeologists and amateurs/beginners alike are welcome to join the volunteer team. Everyone will get the chance to visit some of the key places involved in the wider battle, including the medieval village of San Pietro Infine, where we have our headquarters, Monte Sammucro, Monte Lungo, and Monte Camino, the River Rapido, Snakeshead Ridge, and of course Monte Cassino itself.
We will be staying at the Edra Palace Hotel in Cassino. The project cost for new volunteers for season 2 will be £2499 (£2199 two people coming together sharing, further reductions for students)*, and is completely inclusive of 4-star hotel accommodation, all meals (breakfast, packed lunch, and dinner including wine), training and materials, use of project transport and equipment, and airport transfers for those arriving at a suitable time. This is fully inclusive, apart from flights to Italy, as we have volunteers from all over the world, so we ask them to arrange and pay for their own flights to Naples to suit themselves.
*reduced - was £2825, (£2599 sharing).
For more information please email questions to admin@mhlcassino.co.uk. To reserve a place, please click the link below and complete the reservation form.
We will be asking for a deposit of £100 per person in the autumn of 2019 to confirm your place, followed by the balance early in 2020. Should we have to cancel for any reason, the £100 deposit will be fully refunded. Full details of the trip logistics will be sent to all members in early 2020.
About Us: the Military History Live team for the San Pietro and Cassino Conflict Archaeology Project
The project will be directed by Neil Faulkner and Roger Ward, leading members of the Great Arab Revolt Project (www.jordan1914-18archaeology.org). Confirmed members of the team so far include: Ali Baldry, Jess Blackman, Anna Gow, David Long, Brian Powell, Cameron Ross, and Gary Rossin.
A team of specialists and volunteers were involved in the hugely successful first field season, which took place between 1-14 May 2019. Our focus was on the San Pietro Infine ruins/national monument and its wider landscape context, a swathe of mountain country extending from the slopes of Monte Lungo to the summit of Monte Sammucro, the site of the Battle of San Pietro, 8-17 December 1943. Our second field season will build on, and expand this work, with new specific areas of interest arising out of the first season's research. A testament to the success of the first season is that many of the volunteers have already signed up to return next year.
Military History Live is building partnerships with the San Pietro Infine community, with the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, and with other Italian organisations. We will be reporting to the local archaeological authorities, the Soprintendenza Archaeologia belle arti e paesaggio per le province di Caserta e Benevento. We will be publishing both formal reports and popular summaries, and will be involved in a wide range of public presentation and community-engagement activities.
All volunteers will be fully integrated into small work-teams under expert supervision, and will be rotated to ensure everyone experiences a range of activities, including excavation, survey, and wider battlefield exploration. Experienced archaeologists and amateurs/beginners alike are welcome to join the volunteer team. Everyone will get the chance to visit some of the key places involved in the wider battle, including the medieval village of San Pietro Infine, where we have our headquarters, Monte Sammucro, Monte Lungo, and Monte Camino, the River Rapido, Snakeshead Ridge, and of course Monte Cassino itself.
We will be staying at the Edra Palace Hotel in Cassino. The project cost for new volunteers for season 2 will be £2499 (£2199 two people coming together sharing, further reductions for students)*, and is completely inclusive of 4-star hotel accommodation, all meals (breakfast, packed lunch, and dinner including wine), training and materials, use of project transport and equipment, and airport transfers for those arriving at a suitable time. This is fully inclusive, apart from flights to Italy, as we have volunteers from all over the world, so we ask them to arrange and pay for their own flights to Naples to suit themselves.
*reduced - was £2825, (£2599 sharing).
For more information please email questions to admin@mhlcassino.co.uk. To reserve a place, please click the link below and complete the reservation form.
We will be asking for a deposit of £100 per person in the autumn of 2019 to confirm your place, followed by the balance early in 2020. Should we have to cancel for any reason, the £100 deposit will be fully refunded. Full details of the trip logistics will be sent to all members in early 2020.
About Us: the Military History Live team for the San Pietro and Cassino Conflict Archaeology Project
The project will be directed by Neil Faulkner and Roger Ward, leading members of the Great Arab Revolt Project (www.jordan1914-18archaeology.org). Confirmed members of the team so far include: Ali Baldry, Jess Blackman, Anna Gow, David Long, Brian Powell, Cameron Ross, and Gary Rossin.
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