📜 House of Fore Mosulishvili: The Story Behind the Hero of Kvemo Machkhaani

The Fore Mosulishvili house museum stands in the village of Kvemo Machkhaani, where the hero was born. This isn't a grand military museum with glass display cases, it's a family home that still holds the memory of one of the most unusual episodes of the Second World War: a Georgian who became a national hero of two countries at once, the Soviet Union and Italy.

The story of Fore Mosulishvili deserves to be told without confusion, duplication or invented details, so what follows is verified fact only.

📜 From Kakheti to Captivity in Italy

Fore (also transliterated Pore) Nikolayevich Mosulishvili was born on 20 July (2 August new style) 1916, in the village of Kvemo Machkhaani, into a peasant family. He graduated from the Lagodekhi Agricultural College and worked on a collective farm before being drafted into the Red Army in 1939.

During the fighting he was captured by the Germans and ended up in a labour camp in northern Italy. Captivity did not break him: in 1944, Sergeant Mosulishvili organised the escape of around seventy prisoners of war from the Nazi camp.

🇮🇹 A Partisan with the Garibaldi Brigades

Having seized weapons and ammunition from the camp guards, Mosulishvili's group joined the Italian Garibaldi partisans, fighters in the Resistance named after Italy's national hero, Giuseppe Garibaldi. For his exceptional courage and organisational skill, he was appointed deputy commander of the international partisan detachment of the 118th Brigade.

⚔️ Sacrifice Near the Village of Lesa

On 3 December 1944, the Garibaldi detachment was surrounded by German forces in Novara province, near the village of Lesa. Wounded and nearly out of ammunition, the partisans found themselves with no way out. The Germans issued an ultimatum: if the unit's commander surrendered, the rest would be spared.

The commander, Edo Del Gratta, born in Pisa, didn't move. Fore Mosulishvili stepped forward instead. He disarmed his comrades, throwing their weapons at the Germans' feet, then declared himself the commander and, rather than be taken prisoner, shot himself in front of the enemy. His act saved the lives of sixteen fellow fighters.

Fore Mosulishvili is buried in the cemetery in Arona, Novara province, Piedmont. A memorial ceremony is held there every year on 2 December, the anniversary of his death.

🎖️ Recognition from Two Nations

Fore Mosulishvili's posthumous honours include the Order of Lenin (5 May 1990), the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class (3 October 1972), Italy's Gold Medal of Military Valour (28 February 1970) and the Garibaldi Medal. The title Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded by decree of the President of the USSR on 5 May 1990, posthumously, nearly half a century after his death.

His name was given to a battalion of the 118th Italian partisan brigade. A street in Tbilisi bears his name. His memory is preserved in two places at once: the house museum in his home village of Kvemo Machkhaani, Georgia, and a separate memorial, the Museo Baita della Libertà, in the Italian town of Belgirate, where a street also carries his name.

🏛️ What the House Museum Holds

The house museum in Kvemo Machkhaani holds Fore Mosulishvili's personal belongings, documents, letters, photographs and medals. Of particular interest are the maps of wartime events and the chronicle of the hero's actions alongside his partisan comrades. This is an intimate, memorial-style museum: there's no sprawling exhibition, but there is the genuine atmosphere of the home where a man whose name is remembered in two countries grew up.

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Information current as of June 2026. Opening hours are best confirmed by phone before your visit.