- 11 minutes ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:02Italy 1943 Mussolini falls fascism cracks Nazi Germany's strongest ally
00:13switches sides and joins the Allies for a moment it looks like liberation
00:24it doesn't last
00:30September 1943 the Germans hit back its operation AXA they sweep down the
00:38peninsula reinstall Mussolini and turn Italy into a puppet regime of a
00:44collapsing Reich then comes the prize inside the Bank of Italy lies the National
00:50Reserve around a hundred and twenty tons of gold worth around 17 billion US
00:59dollars today under German control it's moved out of Rome first to Milan then
01:05north to the fortress of Franzenfester buried in the mountains of South Tyrol that
01:12is a vault with a view but the gold doesn't stay there in 1944 shipments begin moving
01:19again this time towards Germany and by the end game that paper trail it's turned into
01:26smoke some of the gold is said to have reached Berlin some vanishes into the confusion of
01:34a continent in free fall and that's where the rumors begin lost convoys quiet deals alpine
01:42hiding places so where did the gold end up who took it and how much of it never came back
02:00I'm Guy Walters I'm a historian I'm a journalist and I'm a sort of explorer of all the hidden
02:08secrets of the Second World War and the Nazi period
02:14Hi I'm Justine I'm the international woman of adventure I speak many languages I'm the perfect
02:22person to hunt for some Nazi gold together we've crossed borders track rumors and dug
02:33through more than our fair share of cold mud and colder archives now we're on the trail of one of
02:41the
02:41most enduring legends of the Italian front the missing gold of the Banker d'Italia seized by the
02:49Nazis in 1943 and scattered as their empire fell apart the Nazis they they moved in quickly and that
02:58gold in the Bank of Italy it was not going to stay there for long believe you me our mission
03:03follow
03:04those routes north dig into bunkers and fortresses test the rumors and follow the paper trails and
03:10find out whether this lost Italian gold is real treasure still hidden in the Alps or just another wartime myth
03:37summer 1943 sicily has already fallen the Americans and the British own those beaches now and they are harbored in
03:47the islands of the
03:48dusty old ports. For the Germans, it's a cold shock.
03:52The war has finally crossed the water and landed in Italy's backyard.
04:11In 1943, Italy had one of the largest gold reserves in Europe.
04:18It had over 127 tons of bullion, and it had coins with bars,
04:23and they were all stacked in the Bank of Italy, right in the heart of Rome.
04:28So when the Allies land, Berlin has to move quickly,
04:32and those Nazis pour into Italy incredibly fast.
04:38The Third Reich basically treated Italy, after its collapse,
04:43as a great big bank, you know, ready to be emptied.
04:46And that's why, essentially, the Nazis turn up at the Bank of Italy in Rome,
04:50and they just help themselves to all the gold for safekeeping.
04:55Vincenzo Attellini was head of the Bank of Italy.
04:58And when the Nazis turned up one day,
05:01he had no choice but to hand over his country's gold.
05:05Now, that gold was put into boxes, sent north, and hidden away.
05:09And while it was still Italy's gold on paper,
05:12in reality, it had been moved to places where paperwork meant nothing at all.
05:17Some of that gold was recovered.
05:19Some simply disappeared.
05:22We're only going to know how much of that story, you know,
05:26still lies buried by continuing the search.
05:29It never ends.
05:34Yesterday, I ran across Santa Fe.
05:37No one noticed, cos I was all dressed in grey.
05:40Kicks on sweatpants, it clashed, whatever.
05:45So, we are going to go to Italy.
05:48We're going to go to the Alto Adige, in the very north of Italy.
05:51I love that part of Italy.
05:53It is lovely.
05:54One of my favourites.
05:55So, we're going to go to Italy here.
05:58We start in northern Italy, in the south Tyrol.
06:01Think forests, bunkers.
06:04Think SS convoys moving by night in late 1943.
06:12Then Fortezza, an alpine fortress
06:15and a perfect place to lose a few tonnes of bullion.
06:18I've got to say that if you're going to store 124 tonnes of gold bullion,
06:25you're going to do it here at Fortress Fortezza.
06:30Over 100 tonnes passed through Nazi hands
06:33and some shipments simply vanished.
06:38And then we go to Bunker 3, opened years later
06:42and one of the most mysterious sites in the whole area
06:45and just above Fortress Fortezza.
06:49Three sites, one missing fortune.
06:53To find it, we've got to go underground.
06:57So, you're up for a bunker?
06:59Fantastic.
07:00Tunnels, bunkers?
07:01Yes, that's all up my street.
07:21As we cross the border from Austria into Italy, there's a notable change of style and pace.
07:27On the roads, the Italians bow to nobody, so I need to do my best to keep up and stay
07:33in the fast lane.
07:35What do you say about my driving style?
07:38Well, that it's quite haphazard, you know?
07:40Quite haphazard?
07:41Yeah.
07:43Okay.
07:43Stop the last minute.
07:44This is going well.
07:45This is going well.
07:47Bloody hell.
07:49Okay.
07:50Well, this is...
07:51Like all men, I'm a brilliant driver because my ego is out there.
07:54Forget that.
07:55Okay.
07:55They are brilliant drivers.
07:57Thank you, Justine.
07:58This conversation never happened.
07:59This conversation, yeah, is over.
08:01Okay.
08:02Cut.
08:07We're heading into the alpine hills of South Tyrol, where bunkers still lie hidden in all that rock.
08:15They were built along Italy's northern alpine border in the late 1930s, and Mussolini's alpine wall was intended to defend
08:23against potential invasion.
08:26Then, in 1943, everything changed.
08:30Italy surrendered, the Germans moved in, and the bunkers fell into Nazi hands.
08:37As the Reich collapsed and that gold vanished, these bunkers stopped being defences and start looking like hiding places.
08:46If you wanted to hide 24 tonnes of gold, they're exactly the right place.
08:54But before we head for those bunkers and the fortress at Fortezza, we've got to go to the Neustift Abbey
09:01in South Tyrol.
09:06It's here we're meeting a friend and historian, Madeline Johnson, and she is going to enlighten us as to the
09:13turbulent history of those Italian gold reserves.
09:21In all these transfers of gold, they've been keeping track and they weigh it and whatever.
09:26But at some point in Germany, it gets transferred from larger bags into smaller bags.
09:34So that's where discrepancies show up.
09:37They're like, well, 50 bags came in, but 100 went out.
09:40It's like, wait, we got 100, but they sent it.
09:43So that sort of adds to this discrepancy.
09:48It's not just Italian gold.
09:50Because when they invaded France, they took gold.
09:53They took gold from Yugoslavia.
09:56They took gold from Greece.
09:58And they took gold from Albania.
10:00And so this stuff is all in the basement of this place north of here in a region of Italy
10:07in a fort.
10:09Fortress for Tetz.
10:09That's right.
10:11In September 1943, those 127 tons of gold were stashed away deep within the rocks and corridors of Fortress for
10:22Tetz.
10:24And there it lies, ready for whatever nefarious purposes the Nazis may have for it.
10:32Now we understood better the history of the area, and with our great lesson from Madeleine, we felt ready to
10:40find a key location where all those Nazi gold rumours were going to lead us.
10:49In the hospital, praise to God, I got that on my knees.
10:55So, come on then, what's your favourite car?
10:57My favourite car, my ultimate favourite, is the Porsche 911.
11:03Porsche.
11:04Porsche.
11:04You're one of those people who says Porsche, are you?
11:06Porsche.
11:06Porsche.
11:07Well, you've got a Porsche.
11:09I have.
11:10What have you got?
11:10A Cayman.
11:11A Cayman.
11:12I don't even know what that is.
11:14It's an alligator or something.
11:18Okay, we've just basically are driving through a massive roadworks.
11:23Actually, they're building a massively new road.
11:26And this is the way to the bunker, and I'm like, bloody hell, look at this.
11:31What do you think rocks are going to drive through?
11:33Um, now we've got the Jeep.
11:35Um, but we will, we will see how we do.
11:38The place is where I end up trying to find Nazi gold.
11:44Right, here we go.
11:46We have arrived.
11:48Okay, I admit we are in a bloody roadworks.
11:53You promised me boats, diving, all sorts of adventures, and you take me to a building
12:00site?
12:02Yeah, okay, I have to admit, I'm sorry.
12:04This is about the first time I've apologised to you.
12:06This was, was, um, a railway line where those two yellow diggers are, and you can just
12:13about see the remnants of the railway line, and there was a railway bridge, and there was
12:17a nice track here, and instead, uh, we've driven through all that mud and stuff.
12:22So, thank God we got the handy Jeep.
12:23Anyway, right, we've got to get over this, and then we're going up there, and we're going
12:27to find something called the Kuklbunker.
12:34This way.
12:37Here we go, and I think the bunker, it says the bunker is somewhere around here.
12:46It's going to be somewhere here.
12:49Well, it looks like...
12:51Yes!
12:51It's here.
12:52That is a secret bunker.
12:54That, ladies and gentlemen, that is where you're going to hide gold.
12:57Ow!
12:58I don't want...
12:59This is nasty.
13:00I don't want to step in the pool again.
13:01This is nasty.
13:02This is, this is nasty.
13:03This is definitely, definitely a...
13:06You could hide something here easily.
13:09At first glance, those bunkers around Fortezza seem like the relics of the Nazi war machine.
13:14Cold, concrete remnants of a vanished empire.
13:18There's some steps.
13:20You know, obviously totally dressed for the occasion.
13:22Yes.
13:22I'll let you check out the room first.
13:25I'm going, going, going down, going down.
13:27I think one of the problems with hunting for Nazi gold, I discovered, was that you've
13:32got to have a pretty strong nose.
13:35Gratifying no smell of urine or faeces, which is very rare for us bunkerologists.
13:41Okay, okay.
13:42I can, I can confirm no gold is down here.
13:45What there is, is a load of...
13:48Someone has dumped their kind of bathroom and kitchen tiles in this place.
13:53And...
13:54This is not a place for gold, as much as it looks amazing.
13:58It's a concrete room.
14:01Okay.
14:02Yeah, I was expecting that.
14:04I am depressed.
14:05This has been a dreadful mistake.
14:07It will look so much better on Google.
14:08Well, perhaps we'll have better luck at the fortress itself.
14:15It's time to get back on the road and head up to Fortress Fortezza.
14:31Welcome to the Festum Fortezza.
14:35We are here because those naughty Nazis decided to take all of the Bank of Italy's gold reserves,
14:45124 tonnes of gold, and bring them here.
14:49So about a fifth of it went missing.
14:52And there are some people who think that that 24 tonnes of gold, it could be right behind me.
14:59We've got to go into that fortress and have a look for it.
15:01Let's do it.
15:02Waiting for us at Fortezza is a historian who has spent years chasing this story.
15:10I am Tony.
15:11Tony.
15:12Tony is a man who knows about the gold in these walls better than anyone else.
15:18Wow.
15:21It's enormous.
15:22Believe you me, Fortezza is a big old place.
15:26It's got at least 400 rooms, it's got countless passageways, stairs, nooks, crannies, lifts,
15:33grey big armoured doors, endless kind of caverns, caves.
15:37It's a rabbit, Warren.
15:39Perfect for hiding your gold.
15:42Is there any gold still here?
15:44Yeah.
15:45Doveil oro.
15:45Under my bed.
15:47Your bed.
15:49Tony's gold bed.
15:54So what I can really tell here, what's really obvious, is that the fortress is built on rock and in
16:04rock.
16:06And for this reason, a very important fort was built here, which was supposed to close this valley, close this
16:13passage and also control the passage to the Val Posteria, towards the east of Italy, let's say.
16:19And the same reason why they were built here, later after the First World War, a whole series of bunkers.
16:27By the Second World War, Fortezza is, it's little more than a kind of legacy fortification.
16:33You know, it's still used by the Italians, but it's, has real, no strategic or kind of, you know, tactical
16:40value.
16:40But it will prove to be a significant hidey hole.
16:50The gold was brought to Fortezza in November 1943.
16:55Because they, who had been requisitioned to Central Bank, at the Bank of Italy, in Rome,
17:02it was basically German units of German military soldiers.
17:07However, they requisitioned this gold on behalf of the fascist government.
17:12And in their escape towards Milan, then after, they returned this gold to the disposal of the fascist government.
17:22Do we know why Fortezza was chosen specifically for the gold?
17:26This was a special area, because here, in the provinces of Bolzano, Trento and Belluno,
17:33there was a German operation zone, called the Foralpen Operation Zone.
17:41However, it was under the direct control of the gold eiter of Innsbruck, Franz Hofer.
17:50Hoffer positioned himself as the kind of protector of Tyrol,
17:54and he often styled himself as kind of deeply tied to the Alpine region.
18:00And what he did was to support this kind of massive network of defensive constructions,
18:06you know, in Tyrol and Fortezza,
18:08and therefore, gains this new significance under Hoffer's watch.
18:13So, Hoffer was technically responsible for holding on to the area as part of the supposed Alpine fortress scheme.
18:27I love this.
18:29This is a proper cave.
18:34Gold arrived here.
18:36Everything that remained, everything that was still in Rome, was brought here.
18:41It amounted to about 120 tons.
18:44These were ingots, typical national ingots, bearing the mark of the Bank of Italy,
18:50packed in wooden or metal crates, in leather taschen, basically leather bags,
18:55or in small barrels filled with gold coins.
18:58Much of the gold was then sent toward Berlin and to various destinations.
19:03From early 1944, the Nazis began moving the gold out.
19:08Two convoys went to Berlin, and a third went to Switzerland.
19:13In total, we can estimate about 94 tons left Italy that year.
19:18For the Third Reich, this was hard currency.
19:21You know, this is money to keep that war machine alive, even though the Third Reich is clearly crumbling.
19:29It's spring 1945.
19:31The war is nearing its end.
19:33But up here in the Alps, it's still biting.
19:36Because that campaign by the Allies to take Italy has been one of the most violent and drawn-out of
19:44the whole Second World War.
19:46Nearly every gorge, every mountainside, every hill has involved the most vicious fighting,
19:55with machine gun fire raining down from the slopes, mortars bursting in the trees.
20:00It has been the most brutal campaign and has cost hundreds of thousands of lives.
20:08But eventually, that German line breaks.
20:11It was later found and seized by American units, by American infantry units, which found, still here, 25 to 26
20:21tons of gold.
20:2325 tons of gold still hidden inside the fortress.
20:29As the right collapses, soldiers enter the fortress and find barrels of gold left behind in the rush to retreat.
20:39Over 150 barrels and crates, a forgotten vault.
20:46The treasure is eventually returned to Italy.
20:54Justine and I wanted to see with our own eyes just how much gold was actually found here.
21:00Justine, welcome to my gold room.
21:13Here it is. This is a depiction of how much gold there was here.
21:17That is pretty much the size of your average garden shed.
21:19Actually, when you look at it, it's kind of surprisingly small for something that's worth so much.
21:24You know, it's proof that, you know, vast fortunes can just fit in very few steel boxes.
21:31If someone gave you that, you'd be very happy because that amount of gold is worth today 10, 11 billion
21:38pounds.
21:39Imagine, however, about a fifth of that might be missing.
21:45But what of the Italian gold which had made its way to Berlin and then perhaps into Switzerland?
21:51Because while the gold in Berlin was recovered and returned to the post-war Italian government,
21:56Switzerland has always been notoriously tight-lipped about the treasures which came its way in the final stages of World
22:05War II.
22:06But that is for another day.
22:12Here at Fortetza, the walls are now quiet.
22:15The vault is now empty. There is no forgotten hoard.
22:18Just cold stone and empty tunnels.
22:21Whatever passed through here is now long gone.
22:24That gold now remains a kind of ghost story.
22:27And the search for what's missing has to move on.
22:36Even though we've drawn a blank at Fortetza, we treasure hunters don't give up that easily.
22:42So we start hatching plans, tracing old roots, looking into those rumours.
23:04It's time to head to the eternal city, back to where it all began.
23:10If there are more clues out there, the chances are I'm going to find them in Rome.
23:23Mussolini is booted out in July 1943 and the armistice takes place in September.
23:29And the Nazis know they've got to act quickly if they want to take control of Italy.
23:33They seize railways, buildings, you name it.
23:36They are going to take over this entire country.
23:39But there's one building near here which they really want to get their hands on.
23:44And that's where I'm going to next.
24:00That building behind me is the Italian central bank, the Banca d'Italia.
24:05And it's here in September 1943 that the Nazis turned up, knocked on the door and they said to the
24:12boss, Vincenzo Azzolini, we want to have your gold.
24:15And Azzolini is going, I'm not going to give you my gold, but the Germans are insistent.
24:20They say, we want to have your gold for safe keeping.
24:24And Azzolini realises he has no choice because if he refuses, the Germans will carry out reprisals.
24:30So on the 23rd to the 27th of September, the Germans turn up, they go to the vault and they
24:37take away 119 tons of gold.
24:42The irony is today, if the Germans wanted Italy's gold, all they have to do is take it from there
24:48and put it across the road at the Deutsche Bank right here.
24:56Now that I'm here in Rome, there's one place I absolutely have to investigate, Monte Serrate, just 40 kilometres from
25:05the capital.
25:06Now, after Italy switched sides in September 1943, the Germans moved in and they moved in fast.
25:12And what they did was to occupy this vast bunker complex started by Mussolini that was, you know, buried deep
25:21into the mountainside.
25:23And it's from here, there was a kind of nerve centre for the German command.
25:28From where Rome was defended, orders were issued and when the retreat would come, the tunnels would be sealed and
25:36left behind.
25:36So if you're going to hunt for missing gold, this is not a bad place to start.
25:42In fact, it's a brilliant place to start.
25:45There's only one man to do it with, and that is the mayor of nearby Sant'Oresti, Professor Gregory Paolucci.
25:53Nice to meet you. The bunker is this way.
25:55Yes, the entrance is under the missile.
25:57OK, let's go, let's go. Take me down your bunker.
26:00So this is the original entrance, right here?
26:03No, we have 22 entrances. 22 entrances, yes.
26:25And here we are inside one of the most complex and mysterious bunker systems in Europe.
26:33Built on the orders of Mussolini from 1937, it was meant to stretch for 14 kilometres.
26:41But he only managed to complete four.
26:45From here, it was believed that the Italians could continue their war effort even if they were driven out of
26:51Rome.
26:51And at the very moment when gold and valuables were being moved across Italy, rumours began to circulate that some
27:01of that gold passed through, right here, hidden somewhere underground, even if only for a short time.
27:09OK, we've been walking for quite a long time now, and I want to know where you're taking me.
27:14It's a surprise.
27:15For me?
27:16Let me show you, yeah.
27:17OK.
27:17What are you searching for here?
27:19Well, I'm looking for gold.
27:20Oh, let's try, let's try the search.
27:23Please tell me you've got gold.
27:24Yeah, it's a surprise for you. Let's go there.
27:26Gregory leads me into a room deep inside the bunker.
27:34Oh, wow.
27:37It's a space, he claims, that was once filled with gold and is now decorated with replica gold bars and
27:45ingots.
27:47As is stolen all Italian gold ingots from Italian bank, imagine that only 22 tons of gold came back after
27:56the war.
27:57Yeah.
27:58So, the most important part remained outside probably.
28:02So, it's not strange that from Rome, only in about one hour by car, or imagine that here was the
28:09commander-in-chief, Albert Kesserling, asked for gold.
28:13So, a part could be reasonable, that could be brought here and Kesserling taken one part.
28:23One part about 69 or 72 tons of ingots.
28:28We have only witnesses.
28:30OK.
28:31It's not simple to get witnesses and even many histories after and well documented even a man, a murder.
28:42A murder.
28:43A murder?
28:43Yeah.
28:44Yeah, because who brought the gold here was not the German Wehrmacht, it was the SS.
28:58And they brought the gold here, they obliged the German soldiers of the Wehrmacht to download 72 tons of ingots,
29:08hiding them inside a particular tunnel of this bunker.
29:14Then they walled up.
29:16Then they walled up.
29:16The SS were not obliged to a military law.
29:19They had a political, political police.
29:22So, they shoot to 12 soldiers.
29:26One of them was hardly deeply wounded, but not killed.
29:31So, he succeeded to go out and to save himself.
29:36After the Second World War period, in 1946, these soldiers came back.
29:44According to Gregory, the soldier who survived the SS shooting and who returned for the gold was called Willy Wehrmacht
29:51from Hamburg.
29:52Now, sometime later, he was found brutally murdered, believed by some to have been silenced to stop him revealing the
30:02whereabouts of the missing Italian gold.
30:05So, many people started to search for gold outside the military zone, the army zone, and inside the tunnel.
30:13Italian government classified many documents from the 60s and 70s.
30:18And there was the act of a military trial in which there were five generals of the Italian army.
30:27And the judge asked to these five generals.
30:30You were spending many money in 1967 and 1974 to search for gold of Kesterling or Kapler gold and not
30:40too far from Rome in Montessorate.
30:42And the suggestion is they've been using this money to hunt for gold, is that correct?
30:49Yeah, and imagine that the question of the judge was today clear to us, but the answer of the general
30:56was blank.
30:57Here, searching for gold in 60s, late 60s and 70s, were not only searching for galleons and treasures, but Italian
31:07army, Italian intelligence, Italian secret service, spending many public money.
31:12Do they find any gold?
31:14We don't know.
31:15But imagine that the mystery of the gold continues, because many Italian, even national institutes, I can give you the
31:24name, are well interested in searching for gold inside this tunnel, even in next month.
31:31What Gregory has divulged here, it's utterly fascinating.
31:35I mean, the idea that the SS may have secreted gold here, and even murdered Wehrmacht soldiers who transported it,
31:43is one hell of a claim.
31:45What I've learned here in Montessorate is that of all the places in Italy where there still might be gold,
31:52this could just be the place.
31:55I am totally intrigued. I want to spend a lot more time here.
31:59But I know I've got to get back to Fortetza and rejoin Justine, who, while I was away, managed to
32:07get access to the bunker near Fort Fortetza we'd been to before.
32:14Only this time, she's enlisted the help of a local expert.
32:23When it comes to bunkers and back roads, we turn again to our friend Tony, the man who knows the
32:30hills and tunnels around Fortetza better than anyone else.
32:39Our tour of the bunkers of Alto Wehrmacht continues, and we've got Tony here to lead us to bunker number
32:48three.
32:51You know what, up here in the Italian Alps, every path is uphill both ways.
32:56I love my hills, don't I?
32:58You love your hills.
33:00By the third switchback, you start to wonder if the real hidden treasure is just a nice little level point
33:08on which to take a breather.
33:14Summer, 1944.
33:16The Allies are pushing north, and that Nazi grip on Italy is starting to loosen.
33:22And suddenly, Fortetza, it doesn't feel safe anymore.
33:25So the gold, it's moved again, away from the fortress and up into the mountains towards the bunkers that honeycomb
33:33the entire area.
33:34They're like kind of underground villages of concrete and rock.
33:38You've got corridor after corridor, room after room.
33:41If you want to make a few tons of gold just vanish in a hurry, you cannot ask for a
33:48better place.
33:50Where is this bloody bunker anywhere? We've been walking for years, and I think that it's still up here, so
33:56I'm going.
33:56The bunker is here.
33:58There.
34:00It's over there.
34:01OK.
34:02Really?
34:03OK.
34:06OK.
34:07I'm not sure where he's taking this.
34:10I'm always distrustful of men like this leading me into their bunkers.
34:13You can go on your own then.
34:14Right.
34:15OK.
34:26Proper bunker door thing here.
34:29Look at this.
34:30That's made out of 29 inches of steel or whatever it is.
34:35Bloody hell, look at this.
34:40OK.
34:41Looks like he's got a secret door.
34:48Finally, this is looking like the real deal.
34:56Alice in Wonderland.
35:00That is the most theatrical bunker I've ever seen.
35:03Bunker 3 has got such a classic entrance.
35:06I mean, it's got the most bunker, bunker entrance you can imagine.
35:13It's got to have gold behind it.
35:15Right.
35:17In we go.
35:19You go first.
35:20No, no.
35:21You go first.
35:22There's spiders for you there.
35:23Snakes.
35:24In we go.
35:25Oh, my God.
35:26It's freezing.
35:30Deep in the heart of the mountains of South Tyrol, Justine and I are in part of the bunker complex,
35:37which surrounds the infamous Fortezza fortress, where it is believed the Nazis smuggled several tons of gold seized towards the
35:46end of the war from the Banca d'Italia.
35:51Let's go.
35:53It's a little cool here.
35:56We are underground.
35:57Are there 10 degrees here?
36:00Yes.
36:00Now in the summer, it's 10 or 12 degrees.
36:03The moment we step inside, those walls, they kind of feel like they're closing in a bit.
36:08I mean, everything's very claustrophobic.
36:10It's very airless.
36:11There's no natural light.
36:13I found it a real nightmare.
36:15I wasn't worried about ghosts.
36:16I wasn't even beginning to get worried about finding gold.
36:18I just didn't really want to be trapped in a concrete box cut into a mountainside.
36:23What is the size of this bunker?
36:28About 500 square meters.
36:30500 square meters?
36:32Okay, that's big, very big.
36:34However, the total extent is more than one hectare, more than 10,000 square meters.
36:39Wow.
36:41And when was this built?
36:42Around 1939.
36:46Bunker 3 is one of the most enigmatic remnants of military infrastructure in northern Italy.
36:54When it was finally reopened decades later, parts of the structure appeared to have been disturbed.
37:01You've got kind of mountings for safes and storage cabinets ripped out.
37:05Concrete floor in certain sections shows signs of having been cut away or lifted.
37:11And we couldn't find any official post-war records of what was going on here.
37:16You know, no really useful military logs to explain any changes.
37:19So, you have a kind of vacuum of information into which fills questions and theories and rumors.
37:25And the big question is, could some of those 25 tons of missing gold be temporarily stored right here?
37:33Attention, it's sleepy.
37:34Attention, attention.
37:36And it's wet.
37:37Watch out, guys.
37:38This is genuinely slippery.
37:43What are all these rooms for?
37:46What are you showing deposit rooms?
37:48Just deposit rooms.
37:49They look a bit like...
37:50Store rooms, basically.
37:51Yes.
37:52Yeah.
37:52Tiny hotel rooms.
37:54Yeah.
37:54It's getting colder.
37:57Oh.
37:59I know I'm moaning a lot, but are you cold, Justine?
38:02Well, I've got my pure raw Italian jacket.
38:05Okay.
38:06Well, I'm just wearing my French cotton jacket and it's not working.
38:09It's all over all for swanning around Italian bars and cafes.
38:13But it's no good for this kind of bunker exploration.
38:16This is useless.
38:17I'm not sure you're going to get a hot coffee or a hot cappuccino around here either.
38:20No.
38:21Wow.
38:22Okay.
38:22On it goes.
38:24It doesn't bloody end.
38:27Pony has told me he's got a little secret room at the end.
38:32Show me your secret.
38:36Let's see Tony's secret.
38:40Oh, qué bello.
38:42Your favourite present here.
38:46Oh, my God.
38:47It's Spider World.
38:48And this is your room for tonight.
38:51This is horrible.
38:53Antonio seemed perfectly at home in this kind of arachnid colony.
38:57I, for one, wanted to get the hell out of this dark world of creepy spiders.
39:02I'm getting out of here.
39:03I don't want to be here anymore.
39:06****
39:06Hello.
39:07Come on, guys.
39:10Oh.
39:13But just as we near the exit, an unannounced visitor suddenly appears.
39:18Hello.
39:19Hello.
39:20Hello.
39:20Hello.
39:20How are you?
39:22Buongiorno.
39:22Very well.
39:23Very well.
39:23Out of the shadows just appeared this somewhat burly individual in a kind of quasi-military uniform.
39:31And no one had any idea what he was doing there.
39:34What brings you here to this bunker?
39:36Yeah.
39:37I am normally looking for the bunkers around Europe, so it's mine.
39:42I'm just tripping from the bunkers to the bunkers.
39:45Oh, I see.
39:45We have a lot in Czech.
39:47Okay.
39:48So you're here as a tourist?
39:50Yeah.
39:51Okay.
39:51So you're wearing an abomi hat, a beret.
39:54Yeah, yeah.
39:55But this is a Czech man, yeah.
39:56I see.
39:57So, I see.
39:58So, you're dressed up.
40:00I see.
40:00We thought you were a soldier.
40:01Yeah.
40:02You're just...
40:03Okay.
40:03You're dressed up.
40:04Okay.
40:04I'm looking how the Italians are prepared for the next war with the Russian people, you know?
40:09Okay.
40:11Yeah.
40:11Okay.
40:12Good.
40:12Well, we will let you explore.
40:14Okay.
40:15Bye-bye.
40:16Bye-bye.
40:17Okay.
40:28Do we lock him up now?
40:29Yeah, let's shut it in.
40:41Of course, we didn't shut him in.
40:43He was simply one of the many historical enthusiasts, shall we say, who loves to explore bunker complexes.
40:50Now, I would be pretty devastated if he managed to stumble across the gold that we had been looking for.
40:57This is what happens when you do programs like this.
41:00You know that these places just attract the most diverse range of people you can possibly imagine.
41:08I mean, I've got to confess, you know, we're not the most normal people ourselves hunting for Nazi gold, but
41:13what the hell?
41:40In the post-war years, Italy, of course, refused to let this story fade, and after several complex negotiations, she
41:48got back all her gold.
41:50At least, we think she did.
41:52Now, the head of the Bank of Italia at the time, Vincenzo Azzolini, was put on trial after the war
41:59and was accused of having willingly given that gold over to the Nazis.
42:04But ultimately, he was pardoned because it was found that he was completely coerced.
42:11Azzolini had no choice but to hand over his country's gold.
42:15Now, at the end of the war, we see the bank's integrity restored and justice, however imperfect, began to be
42:22served.
42:23I've rather enjoyed my time at Festum Fortezza.
42:26I'm loving Italy.
42:28Well, you're loving Italy because of the food and the people and the fashion, which is why we're trying to
42:33look cool here in Italy.
42:34Not that Tony was that representative of Italian.
42:46I was determined I was going to find something.
42:51It doesn't matter, because next time we are going to the daddy of Nazi gold locations.
42:59That, boys and girls, is Lake Toplitz.
43:08There is no place more associated with the hunt for Nazi gold than there.
43:14And we are going to meet some legendary figures with some extraordinary stories to tell.
43:21Justine and I are going to go there and we are going to look for it.
43:26Wish us luck.
43:28This is the big one.
43:30This is the big one.
44:00I'll see you next time.
44:01Bye.
44:02Bye.
44:06Bye.
44:11Bye.
44:14Bye.
Comments