Glenn Flickinger and Todd DePastino discuss the VBC’s WWII Tour of Italy in October 2026, where they will spend 14 days following the path of the Allied forces through one of the most grueling campaigns of World War II. Todd and Glenn will also talk with Italian Campaign expert, 45th Infantry Division Historian Professor David D’Andrea, who will also be joining us on our trip.

We’ll trace the course of the Italian Campaign, beginning with Operation Husky, the massive Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 that opened the road to Europe’s soft underbelly. From the hard-fought landings at Gela and Scoglitti to the urban battles in Palermo and the mountainous defenses near Messina, Sicily tested the courage and coordination of American and British troops.

From there, the campaign moved to mainland Italy, first at Salerno, where American soldiers fought to hold their beachhead against fierce counterattacks, and then up the rugged spine of the Apennines. We’ll visit key battlegrounds of Cassino, where Allied forces waged a costly struggle for control of the ancient Abbey of Monte Cassino, and Anzio, where troops endured months of shelling in a desperate bid to outflank German defenses. The campaign culminated in the liberation of Rome on June 4, 1944, two days before D-Day in Normandy.

Our trip will visit these storied sites—Catania, Syracuse, Agrigento, Palermo, Salerno, Cassino, Anzio, and Rome—accompanied by historians and local guides who will help us connect the landscape to the history that unfolded there. Along the way, we’ll also enjoy the beauty that drew the world to Italy long before and long after the war: the turquoise waters of the Amalfi Coast, the golden temples of Agrigento, and the ancient beauty of Palermo and Rome.

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life  for sponsoring this event!

Award-winning historian David Nasaw, author of the new book The Wounded Generation: America After the Greatest Generation, talks with Glenn Flickinger about the human costs of WWII in the United States. In his deeply researched and powerfully written history, Nasaw reveals the hidden cost of victory in World War II—the long and often painful homecoming of millions of American veterans who returned to a nation unprepared for their wounds, visible and invisible. Drawing on letters, diaries, and oral histories, he paints a vivid portrait of men and women struggling to rebuild their lives amid postwar shortages, racial inequities, changing gender roles, and the lingering trauma of combat that was then dismissed as “battle fatigue.”

Nasaw, one of America’s most respected biographers and historians, re-examines the familiar myth of the “Greatest Generation” and restores to the story the complexity and hardship that marked the postwar years. He shows how the experience of homecoming—filled with readjustment, silence, and resilience—shaped families, communities, and the nation itself for decades to come.

This conversation will explore what World War II veterans faced when the cheering stopped and the work of coming home began—and why their experiences still matter today. Hosted by the Veterans Breakfast Club, this program continues our mission to create communities of listening around veterans and their stories, honoring not just their service in war but their journey back to peace.

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life  for sponsoring this event!