The bunker was built between July and September 1944 as a temporary deposit of dried gold mud from the mines of Macugnaga and then sent to Milan to the Italian metal ores company, where it would be transformed into ingots to be sent to Germany. Due to the bombing of the Lombard capital, it was decided to send the material directly to Switzerland, passing through Mendrisio. For the transport the railway route was decided, to avoid the entry of German trucks into neutral Switzerland, via the Valmorea railway that connected the Swiss city with Castellanza, a municipality bordering Marnate.
These operations were blocked with the intervention of the Ossola Partisan Republic, born on 10 September 1944. When Ossola was reoccupied by the Germans, they recovered about 2 150 kg of worked gold mud and two gold ingots from the Macugnaga mines. for a total weight of 17,457 kg. On October 14, General Hans Leyers had these materials confiscated and ordered their transfer to the central depot of Olgiate Olona, or the bunker of Marnate. However, Benito Mussolini claimed ownership of the cargo and arranged for its delivery to the Bank of Italy and General Leyers was forced to hand over the goods to SS General Willy Von Tensfeld in Monza, in order to make them available to the Italian Social Republic.
On April 26, 1945 the bunker was conquered by the Italian Resistance after a hard battle with the German garrison. During these fights five German soldiers and a Garibaldino from Fagnano Olona, a certain Carlo Moltrasio, were killed, while two other Italians were seriously wounded. After the German surrender, during a patrol of the bunker, the partisans found it completely empty due to the order of the Duce, but they found an explosive device designed for the self-destruction of the bunker itself.
After the transfer of ownership to the municipality of Marnate in 2014, the bunker was inaugurated on 29 March 2015 after some restoration works in the presence of the authorities of the neighboring municipalities and the president of the province of Varese Nicola Gunnar Vincenzi. For the occasion, a plaque in memory of Carlo Moltrasio was installed and a mural was created on the external wall of the bunker depicting the first page of the historical edition of 11 June 1946 of the Corriere della Sera.
Source: Wikipedia
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