During the Second World War, civilians became the main protagonists of a conflict that many historians have dubbed 'total' because of its geographical extent, the economic resources deployed, the opposing ideologies, but also and above all because of the high number of victims among soldiers and civilian populations. It was precisely the latter who paid the highest price. Apart from Nuremberg and Tokyo, there were few trials and even fewer convictions in the aftermath of the conflict. Many heinous crimes suffered by civilians were suppressed, excluded even from the historical and public narrative of the post-war states. Italy was no exception, indeed here more than anywhere else a policy of memory was implemented aimed at severing ties with the past without coming to terms with it.