Gardone Riviera’s WWII Hospital: Emergency Facilities and Historical Insights

During the time of the Social Republic, Gardone Riviera was a free port, based on the international Geneva Convention. The Grand Hotel, transformed into a hospital (alongside Fasano, Savoy, Bellevue, Hohi Pension, Spiaggia d’Oro Hotel, Villa Maria Elisabetta, and Villa Paolina), was managed by Colonel Hunnermann and housed departments of medicine, surgery, ophthalmology (even Il Duce’s son Romano had eye surgery there), radiology, and a division for the treatment of malaria.

It housed military personnel on the front, regardless of side, and civilians who could not find space in the Salò hospital, which was under exceptional overcrowding. Often, war wounded arrived aboard the steamer Italia, transformed into a hospital ship, bearing the Red Cross insignia.

Emergency operating rooms and investigations

Many claim that beneath the embankment of the parking lot, next to the 45 bis, reserved operating rooms equipped with autonomous generators were set up for use in emergencies. A survey carried out by the municipality in recent days yielded no results.