The local Italian-French military cemetery, which was completed in September 1919 by the French Army of the Orient and which can be accessed from Grobarska Street (south-east of the city), consists of two symmetrical squares with respect to the main walkway which ends with a small monument in memory of the French and allied soldiers who died in Sofia between 1916 and 1918.
The remains of 207 Italian fallen are located in the Italian side:
– 204 died during the First World War while they were prisoners of the Austro-Hungarian army following a “Spanish flu” epidemic. Among these, it is also worth mentioning the sacrifice of three nuns who died while carrying out their work of charity in the infirmary attached to the Orlandovtsi concentration camp (Sofia);
– 3 compatriots prisoners of the German army who died during the Second World War.
The burials, individual and on the ground, are arranged in 15 rows. Each mound is covered with a concrete gravestone topped by a headstone. Floral bands within concrete curbs surround such delimited area. At the front edge, a small suggestive monument stands in memory of the Italian soldiers who fell in Bulgaria. The care of the aforementioned burials is entrusted to the Consular Chancellery operating within the Italian Embassy in Sofia.
The Italian army in Macedonia 1916 – 1918
(from “it.cultura.storia.militare”)
