Alberto Angela recounts what has been defined as "Italian Normandy"; the arrival of allied troops on the beaches of Anzio, near Rome. On January 22, 1944, when 40,000 men landed on the coast of Lazio, a few hours' drive from Rome, the German army was taken by surprise. The road to Rome seems open. But the man in command of the army, General John Porter Lucas, is instead convinced that he is facing a crushing defeat. The overall objective is the city of Rome, the main prize of the Italian Campaign. Would Rome become the first European capital liberated from Nazism? How long would it have taken to break the German Army's resistance? And what price would the population have paid?