Many German soldiers died in Sicily during WWII,  even before 1943 with the Sicily landings. A large number of repatriated wounded perished in hospitals on the island, and several troop and supply transports were hit on Sicilian soil. With the landings, more than 5,000 German soldiers lost their lives on the island within only a few weeks of the fighting. 

​​As part of the 1955 German-Italian agreement on war graves, it was decided to create a war cemetery in Sicily in which all German soldiers who had fallen here would find their final resting place. Designed by Diez Brandi, the German Military Cemetery was inaugurated on 25 September 1965. The bodies were collected by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission), which has been maintaining the area ever since. 

​Behind the car park, a path leads to the memorial, and next to this the visitor centre where name books are also available. The cemetery has a rectangular area of approximately 44 x 30 metres, with the fallen buried in inaccessible crypts. A stele indicates the importance of the place. 

​From the entrance path, a staircase leads to the five upper courtyards. Visitors first enter the Kameradengrab courtyard. In the centre on a raised slab, 28 known and three unknown German soldiers are inscribed, encased in a mass grave. Behind, on a pedestal, lies the bronze figure of a dying young man. From here, the four courtyards are accessible as autonomous rooms, each with marble floors and Roman masonry walls. 

​In the ‘Courtyard of Palermo’, the dead from the provinces of Trapani and Agrigento are buried. In the ‘Courtyard of Caltanissetta’, those from the provinces of Caltanissetta, Ragusa, Catania and Syracuse. In the Courtyard of Messina, those from the provinces of Messina and Enna. The town of Caronia (Messina province) is specifically mentioned here, from whose cemetery almost 700 dead were taken. 

​The crypt of the fourth courtyard - named Catania - contains the 1514 German soldiers who died in Sicily during WWII, who were once buried in the municipal cemetery of the city of Catania together with their Italian comrades. 

​A total of 4561 fallen soldiers are buried here, 451 of whom are unknown.​ 

​The facility was completely renovated in 2010 and reopened to the public on 29 April 2011.​