After World War II, as Italy entered into NATO, Verona once again acquired its strategic importance, due to its closeness to the Iron Curtain.
Avstrijska trdnjava (danes cerkev "Santuario della Madonna di Lourdes"), se je uporabljala za zapor in mučenje zavezniških vojakov, Judov in antifašistov, posebej po 1943, ko je Verona postala del italijanske republike.