List of massacres in Italy
The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in Italy and its predecessors : they are divided by the presence of culpability or not.
List parameters
A massacre is the killing of a large number of people, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves.The following are the parameters used to create the list:
- Massacres, accidents or natural disasters that occurred in the actual Italian Republic territory, in the nearby sea, or by Italian ships or airplanes around the world ;
- Massacres, accidents or natural disasters with at least 3 deaths.
List of culpable massacres
Fascist Italy
Second World War
| Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
| Biscari massacre | 14 July 1943 | Biscari | 71 | United States Army, 180th Infantry Regiment | POWs killed by US troops in two incidents |
| Canicattì massacre | 14 July 1943 | Canicattì | 8 | United States Army | US troops under Colonel McCaffrey fired on looters |
| 12–14 August 1943 | Castiglione di Sicilia | 16 | 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring | 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring massacres 16 civilians and wounds 20. | |
| Barletta massacre | 12 September 1943 | Barletta | 12 killed and 1 wounded | 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler | Mass killing by German occupation troops under Kurt Grooscke |
| Boves massacre | 19 September 1943 | Boves | 23 killed and 22 wounded | 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler | Mass killing by German occupation troops under Joachim Peiper |
| Lake Maggiore massacres | September–October 1943 | Lake Maggiore | 56 | 1st SS Panzer Division | Murder of 56 predominantly Italian Jews despite strict German orders not to carry out any violence against civilians |
| Caiazzo massacre | 13 October 1943 | Caiazzo | 22 | 29th Panzergrenadier Regiment | Mass killing by German occupation troops under Lt. Richard Heinz Wolfgang Lehnigk-Emden |
| Ardeatine massacre | 24 March 1944 | Rome | 335 | Schutzstaffel, SD, Gestapo | Mass killing by German occupation troops |
| Guardistallo massacre | 19 June 1944 | Guardistallo | 57 | 19th Luftwaffe Field Division | 57 Italian civilians killed in massacre by Luftwaffe Field Division |
| Piazza Tasso massacre | 17 July 1944 | Florence | 5 | Italian fascist militia, German Army | 5 Italian civilians killed in massacre by Fascists and German Army |
| Murder of the family of Robert Einstein | 3 August 1944 | Rignano sull'Arno | 3 | German soldiers | German soldiers arrived at the Robert Einstein residence, a cousin of Nobel Prize Laureate Albert Einstein executed Robert's wife and two daughters, and set the house on fire |
| Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre | 12 August 1944 | Sant'Anna di Stazzema | 560 | 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, 36th Brigata Nera | Mass killing by German occupation troops and Italian collaborators |
| San Terenzo Monti massacre | 17–19 August 1944 | Fivizzano | 159 | 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division | 159 Italian civilians killed by SS soldiers as reprisal for partisan activity |
| Padule di Fucecchio massacre | 23 August 1944 | Padule di Fucecchio, Tuscany | 184 | 26th Panzer Division | Up to 184 Italian civilians as a reprisal for a partisan attack on two German soldiers. Massacre carried out by soldiers of the 26th Panzer Division. |
| Vinca massacre | 24–27 August 1944 | Fivizzano | 162 | 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division | 162 Italian civilians killed by SS soldiers as reprisal for partisan activity |
| Certosa di Farneta massacre | 2 September 1944 | Certosa di Farneta | 44 | 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division | Mass killing by 16th SS Division of 44 civilians at monastery in near Lucca |
| Marzabotto massacre | 29 September 1944 | Marzabotto | 770+ | 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division | Mass killing by German occupation troops |
| 19 October 1944 | Palermo | 24 | 139th Infantry Regiment "Bari" | Royal Italian troops massacre protesting civilians, with 24 killed and 158 injured. | |
| Bombing of Gorla | 20 October 1944 | Milan | 614 | United States Army Air Forces | USAAF bombers discarded their payload on a densely inhabited area, killing hundreds, including 184 pupils of the Gorla elementary school. |
| Porzûs massacre | 7 February 1945 | Porzûs, Faedis | 17 | Communist partisans | Communist partisans executed 17 members of the Catholic partisan brigade Brigata Osoppo. |
| Salussola massacre | 9 March 1945 | Salussola | 20 | Blackshirts | 20 Italian partisans tortured and executed by Fascist Blackshirts |
| 13 April 1945 | Monte di Nese, Alzano Lombardo, Bergamo, Lombardy | 120 | Fascists | 120 Soviet soldiers of Azeri origin prisoners escaped Nazi camp to join partisans executed by fascists. | |
| Rovetta massacre | 28 April 1945 | Salussola | 43 | Italian partisans | 43 National Republican Guard prisoners executed by partisans from the Brigata Camozzi, Brigate Garibaldi and Brigate Fiamme Verdi. |
| Schio massacre | 6 July 1945 | Schio | 54 | Partisans | A group of ex-partisans of the Garibaldi Partisan Division "Ateo Garemi" and officers of the auxiliary partisan police kill suspected fascists among 99 inmates detained in the city jail. |
| Villarbasse massacre | 20 November 1945 | Villarbasse | 10 | Bandits | 3 of the perpetrators were sentenced to death; this was the last time the death penalty was applied in Italy |