There are countless accounts regarding the actions of allied soldiers during World War II, but few have touched on the issue of how were Italy's numerous historical treasures protected.
Author Ilaria Dagnini Brey presents the story of some of those who fought to protect Italy's art - the Venus Fixers.
The Venus fixers were an unlikely group of scholars from America's Ivy League and the UK's Oxbridge universities.
They believed that saving Italy's culture — from bombing, from Göring's coffers, from careless soldiers — was an essential component of the war effort.
While initially Italy's art was spared given its alliance with Germany as soon as Mussolini was overthrown all monuments became targets.
German forces often trucked off masterpieces during their retreat - this at times was done not to profit from the works but because the Nazi propaganda was claiming that Americans would destroy art.
Brey follows the Venus fixers on a journey from heavily bombed Palermo through Naples and Monte Cassino (demolished by the Allies to avoid that the Germans held the strategic outpost).
The descriptions of artillery reaping through the hearts of churches and Renaissance monuments is painful to say the least.
In one harrowing tale, Brey describes how the Venus Fixers saved delicate manuscripts from being bulldozed along with rubble into the Arno.
Often these artistic subversives were at odds with their own armies as monuments stood in the way of war and they had to convince soldiers caught in the heat of battle to spare the art. Eisenhower's support was crucial at times.
The book is an amazing tale of one of the least known aspects of World War II and an impressive effort from new author Ilaria Dagnini Brey.
