Mount Belvedere is the highest peak (1,140 m asl.) of the watershed between the valleys of the Reno and the Panaro. Cornerstone of strategic importance since ancient times, this area of the Gothic Line (Green Line II) once the site of a castle, was one of the main German defense bulwarks, where the 232nd division resisted throughout the autumn-winter 1944-45 from repeated attacks by Americans and partisans.
Only after the start of “Operation Encore” on the morning of February 20, 1945 (the allied offensive strategy to liberate the hills north of the Porrettana 64 highway) the American “mountaineers” of the 3rd Battalion of the 85th Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, succeeded in ousting the Germans from the summit after a fierce battle. Mount Belvedere had already been conquered for a few hours in November ’44 by the partisans of the Modena Armando division, who then had to retreat due to insufficient forces to maintain their position.
