San Marcello Pistoiese is a village in the Pistoian Apennines. It was an independent municipality until 2017, when it merged with Piteglio to form the municipality of San Marcello Piteglio, of which it is the administrative capital.

After the Armistice of 8 September 1943, the area was forced to live daily with the risks posed by Nazi-Fascist roundups. These were carried out to find male labour for the construction of fortifications along the Gothic Line, the german and Italian defence line which crossed the mountainous territory of Pistoia.

Two significant elements characterised the municipality: firstly the presence of the Società Metallurgica Italiana factory in Campo Tizzoro, where thousands of people worked under direct German control overseeing production; and secondly the strong partisan activity, both within the factory itself and in the surrounding area.

In the summer of 1944, necessity and a spirit of solidarity led a group of local residents to establish a subcommittee of the Italian Red Cross, made up of eighteen volunteers, primarily to assist the population during the difficult period of the Front’s advance. Liberation officially took place on 26 September 1944, through joint actions by the Brigata Bozzi, the Primo Filoni, and the Costrignano, with the decisive contribution of the SAP (Squadre di Azione Patriottica) Montagna Pistoiese and the working class. From that moment on, the area became the rear of Front represented by the Gothic Line until April 1945. 

The War Memorial was erected in the immediate postwar period to commemorate the soldiers from San Marcello Pistoiese who fell during the First World War. On 2 June 1971, on the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Italian Republic, the monument’s purpose was expanded through the addition of an inscription that also included those who fell for freedom during the Second World War.