Summary In Italy, art historians can study wall-paintings, tombs, and stained-glass windows in the early churches for which they were created because they have been preserved in situ over the centuries. This book explores one fraught period of this critical preservation work, during the five years of World War II in Italy, when numerous artistic monuments of value were vulnerable to damage and destruction. Works of art from the late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance lie at the focus, among them, the Angevin tombs of Santa Chiara in Naples, the frescoes of Pisa's Camposanto, Piero della Francesca's wall-painting of Sigismondo in the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, and the Mazzatosta Chapel in Viterbo. Rooted in the archives, the narrative charts the formidable task of safeguarding stationary art in the midst of aerial and ground attacks. Taking centre stage are the struggles endured by heritage superintendents, the innovations tested under pressure by art restorers, and the desperate position of clerical custodians of churches. The Allied Monuments Officers, who arrived over halfway through the war, provided substantial assistance in the rescue of damaged art from ruined buildings. This study offers an original perspective by emphasizing the Italian protagonists, whose efforts played out against the political and economic landscape of fascism and the devastation wrought by the war on Italian soil. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of illustrations Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. Historical Background: Italy's Experience of World War II Chapter 3. The Role Of The Italian Federal Government in the Protection of Stationary Monuments from War Damage Chapter 4. The Defence of Art in the Italian Provinces before and during World War II Chapter 5. The First Responses To The War Damage Of Early Italian Art, 1943-1945 Chapter 6. What Befell the Mazzatosta Chapel in Viterbo and the Wider Circumstances in Lazio Province during World War II Chapter 7. The Wall Paintings of Pisa's Camposanto Monumentale in the Context of World War II Chapter 8. Conclusion Bibliography Index