Holy Smoke!

I had no idea that we (the Allies) bombed Rome during WWII, but we did - on this day, 1943. The first bombing took placeon May 16, but this one was bigger - 521 bombers with three main targets: the San Lorenzo freight yard, the north side of Rome, and the Ciampino airport on south-east side of Rome

View of San Lorenzo

Some damage was done to the Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls, so Pope Pius XII and  Monsignor Montini (better known in a later incarnation as Pope Paul VI) showed up and handed out cash money to the neighbors. The remains of St. Lawrence and the Proto-martyr St Steven were not affected.

 

Basilica of St. Lawrence Outside the Walls

 

The Vatican was bombed twice, once by the British (one bomb) and Germans (6 bombs) but little was damaged.

Rome was liberated on June 4, 1944.