Italy squad to visit Auschwitz before Euro 2012

MILAN (AP) -- The Italian national team will visit Auschwitz two days before the start of the European Championship in Poland and Ukraine.

Coach Cesare Prandelli and his players will visit the concentration camp, now a memorial for those who died in the Holocaust, on June 6.

Italian football federation President Giancarlo Abete says the "purpose of the trip is to honor and remember those who lost their lives'' and that the "national team is a symbol of the country.''

In November, the Azzurri trained on a field in southern Italy that was confiscated from a local crime syndicate to show its support in the fight against organized crime.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.