Partisan Walk

A walk in the footsteps of the Resistance

The Partisan Walk is a civic commemoration held in Meana di Susa, a small town in the upper Susa Valley, in the Province of Turin, in the heart of Piedmont. Organized by the Dal Gallo Sebastiano cultural association, the walk takes place around Liberation Day and offers a one-hour walking route through the village's historic hamlets, where the history of the Resistance left a deep mark.

Meana, a village of the Resistance

Between September 1943 and April 1945, Meana di Susa was one of the nerve centers of the partisan struggle in the valley. Here, Ada Gobetti—a partisan, writer, and educator who became deputy mayor of Turin upon Liberation—established a base to coordinate Resistance actions, an experience later recounted in her famous Partisan Diary. The village's bond with that era remains vibrant: the municipality has dedicated the gardens in Piazza Europa to Ada Gobetti, transforming a space near the schools into a true hub of active memory.

The route and its landmarks

The walk winds through the hamlets, touching upon several symbolic sites of Meana's history:

• the house where the philosopher Benedetto Croce stayed;
• the home associated with Ada Gobetti;
• the old town hall, site of the killing of Stefano Tremaione.

During the journey, pages from Ada Gobetti's Partisan Diary are read, bringing the voices and thoughts of those who lived through those years back to the path. The walk concludes at Gallo Sebastiano, where the event ends with a convivial gathering, refreshments, and songs of the Resistance.

Shared memory and cross-border ties

The walk is part of the broader Liberation Day celebrations in Meana, which every year bring together ANPI, the Mountain Union administrations, local schools, French delegations from across the border, and the Società Filarmonica Meanese in Piazza Europa. This unified commemoration honors the alliance between Italian and French resistance movements. In Meana, this memory is not merely an institutional ritual, but a journey through the houses, stones, and stories of the village.

An experience for everyone

Open to families, history enthusiasts, and curious visitors alike, the Partisan Walk is a tangible and accessible way to engage with the history of the Resistance in the Susa Valley. More than a spectacular event, it is an occasion for shared reflection, composed of words, places, and songs, in one of the Piedmontese villages that contributed most to the fight for freedom.