During WWII, after Mussolini was deposed, and the Allies began their invasion of mainland Italy, September 3, 1943, the Italian government of Marshal Pietro Badoglio secretly agreed to surrender to the Allies. In order to delay the regrouping of German forces in Italy, public announcement of the capitulation was not made until September 8.

Italy completed its volte-face and declared war against Germany on October 13.

So many people nowadays don't realize that the Germans became immensely insensed that Italy not only surrendered to the Allies, BUT Joined the Allies against  Germany, that they unleashed their wrath against the Italian Civilian population.
The German wrath was exascerbated by the raids, harrasments, and killings of Germans by the Partisans.

15,000 + Italian Civilians were Murdered in 400 + Massacres throughout Italy.

Italy paid a Terrible price, for Mussolini's alliance with Hitler.( At another time, we can debate whether Mussolini was pushed into an alliance with Hitler, or he jumped).

The military casualties as Hitler's ally. The destruction of Italy as the Germans and Alies foot over every mile of the entire penisula.And the Massacres. A sad time.

Sister Margherita Marchione wrote about the Massacres in 1997 in " Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy ". Permission has been granted by the author for the reprint of the following.
=============================================
Yours Is a Precious Witness: Memoirs of Jews and Catholics in Wartime Italy

           Drawing on documentary as well as anecdotal and oral research, Margherita Marchione traces the role of Pius XII and the Catholic Church in aiding the many Italians who attempted to rescue Jews from capture by the Nazis by opening the doors of churches, convents, monasteries, and papal buildings. Paulist Press, 1997, 259 pp., $13.95.

             Massacres in Tuscany (Appendix 4, pp. 197-198.)

Only when Friedrich Andrae’s book "Auch gegen Frauen und Kuder Kinder (Even against Women and Children, The War of the Wehrmacht against Civilians in Italy 1943-45) appeared, did German culture take cognizance of the barbarisms committed by the Nazis on the Italian peninsula during World War II.

One of the most appalling and abominable massacres perpetrated by the Nazis occurred in Via Porrettana, Marzabotto, a small town along the Reno River located in the Appenines of Emilia. It was drizzling and very cold toward dawn on the morning of September 29, 1944, when the SS Panzer Grenadier 16th Division Reichsführer, under the command of Major Walter Reder, entered Marzabotto, a picturesque town encircled by huts and farming villages with small churches and cemeteries.

Rushing from one house to another the Germans shot and killed whomever they encountered—including women and children—and set fire to the barns and stables. The massacre lasted until October 5th. In many homes people were piled in one room and killed with a hand grenade. The total number executed in this manner—1,830 men, women, children, and defenseless invalids—is appalling even after the passage of half a century.

Just as their forefathers had sought sanctuary during the invasions of the Middle Ages, the inhabitants of the hamlet of Casaglia took refuge in the church. Don Ubaldo Marchioni exhorted them to remain calm and to pray. A man who was paralyzed and sitting in a wheelchair at the entrance of the church was machine-gunned by the SS. When the pastor tried to explain that these people had nothing to do with the anti-Fascist partisans, the blast of a machine gun struck him at the altar.

Young and old were herded to the cemetery where they were massacred with machine guns. Similar episodes took place in the villages of Cadotto, Prunara, Steccata, Casone di Rio Moneta, in the oratory of Cerpiano, and others.

When it seemed that the bloody fury of the Germans was placated, the pastor of Sperticano, Don Giovanni Fornasini, went to the San Martino Cemetery on October 13th to give Christian burial to the corpses that had been burned. The stench of decomposing bodies that had been covered with gasoline and set on fire filled the air.

The SS were still lingering in the area. At the sight of the terrible spectacle, unaware that he was being observed by an SS Captain, Don Fornasini commented: “These were not partisans; only the elderly, women, and children.” The Captain responded, “Pastor kaput.” The blast of a machine gun ended his life.

Nazi cruelty against civilians was manifest in all Tuscany. Testimonials about the massacres were provided by a few survivors who, pretending to be dead, had been buried under the corpses or had hidden in tombs. At Civitella della Chiana, in the Province of Arezzo, 168 persons were massacred on June 29, 1944.

A few days later on July 4th, the SS arrived in Castelnuovo del Sabbioni, in the municipality of Cavriglia, Arezzo. Lignite mines and an electrical plant, considered war industries of primary importance, were in this area.

When employees of the mine industry of Valdarno arrived at work, 82 persons were captured by the SS. These hostages were laborers of the war industry: they were not partisans. The defenseless civilians were herded to the church where the pastor, Don Ferrante Bagiardi, was given permission to distribute Communion. He tried to intercede for the prisoners and offered his life in exchange for them. In response to his request, the Nazis machine-gunned Don Ferrante and the poor unfortunate prisoners as they stood in front of the church. The corpses were covered with gasoline and burned.

That afternoon Nazi cruelty shifted to the valley, in the village of Meleto. Ninety-three persons were rounded up. Don Giovanni Fondelli voluntarily joined his parishioners: the dead, who were killed and burned as in the neighboring Castelnuovo, numbered 94. Similar atrocities were committed in variou other localities—Gubbio in Umbria and, in Tuscany, Vallucciole and Stazzema.