EXPERIENCES
Museums and Forts
EXPERIENCES
Museums, repositories of remembrance
There are a number of museums along the Alta Via high altitude Great War hiking trail that hold a historical heritage made up of artefacts and images that are the fruit of study and research by enthusiasts and salvagers to remember events that left a deep mark on territory, inhabitants and landscape.
This museum is by the clearing in front of the Pasubio War Memorial on the hill of Bellavista. The exhibition route concentrates on the events that took place in the area during the First World War and on the 1st Army front line in the Pasubio sector.
Rooms and scenes show the visitor the figures of men and women connected with the war in various ways, arms, trenches, mountain emplacements, military means of transport, etc.
This museum is in the attractive locality of Tonezza del Cimone and is linked to the Great War Ecomuseum project. It is one of the places that preserve and display war artefacts and tangible and intangible evidence of the historical heritage of the Great War as fought on Monte Cimone.
The interior holds objects used by the soldiers, the tale of the refugee, photos and a relief map that shows the positions of the front lines during the conflict.
This museum is on the Asiago Plateau, set up in the evocative premises of the former Roana railway station. It holds a very abundant store of war artefacts and materials from the surroundings and from private collections.
Very many objects and various finds have been recovered over the years, so much so that more than 5,000 items and over 1,000 photographs have been documented and catalogued.
There is a document archive, a photo library and a sale outlet and bookshop in the interior.
A museum divided into two sectors has been set up in the lower part of the Asiago War Memorial, near the entrance to the crypt. The exhibits consist of many relics picked up on the battlefields of the plateau and documents and photographs of the time that are vivid evidence of the bitter, bloody fighting that took place.
The town museum is in the former Foza town hall, which was restored, refurbished and turned into a museum after the council offices moved in 2009.
The museum is not only a repository of objects and documents, but a dynamic and experiential venue: in addition to the sections devoted to the Great War and stock raising, there is a conference centre, a teaching workshop and the Foza Tourist Information Office.
The Great War section is on the second floor, where the museum narrates the sufferings of the soldiers and the civilian population, the progress of the fighting and movements of the front lines, with a display of war objects and artefacts.
This museum, which is in the Sasso of Asiago district, considers three themes:
- the battle on the “three mountains”, Col del Rosso, Col d’Echele and Monte Valbella in June 1918;
- the longest stairway in the world, with 4,444 limestone steps, named Calà del Sasso (Calà means “descent”), which goes down into the valley and ends at Valstagna;
- a monument ordered by Margherita Sarfatti and erected by Terragni in memory of her son Roberto Sarfatti, who died during the conquest of the Col d’Echele and was awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour.
This museum is in the municipality of Solagna on Monte Grappa, in the Favero family’s Hotel San Giovanni. It is dedicated to Roberto Favero, a young researcher and collector of war remains, who died an early death.
His brother Luciano took over his legacy, putting together a collection of Great War artefacts. Relics of all kinds and from all army units are catalogued and displayed inside the hotel; they were recovered on the battlefields of Monte Grappa and the Colli Alti.
These barracks were built during the war for the personnel carrying out road and fortification works on Grappa. From the building, set against the rocky part of the mountain, its occupants got to the Vittorio Emanuele III tunnel directly through a passageway that sheltered troops and personnel and kept them safe. The main unit in the barracks, given the name of Caserma Milano during the conflict, is now home to a well-tended museum that gathers together and displays a number of relics recovered on the Grappa massif, exhibits that are the result of private donations and a sequence of panels that introduce the visitor to the story of the main events in the war on Grappa and the surrounding hills.
EXPERIENCES
Forts, timeless witnesses
The forts are military structures that bear witness to the First World War. They were designed as defensive works; you feel a particular atmosphere when you are inside them, an evocative atmosphere that fills you with awe because they bring the tragic events of the past century to light. Some forts have been restored and turned into museums to hold documents, photographs and other traces of the war.
This fort is a massive complex of stone casemates and is the first specimen of an Italian bullet-proof mountain fortification. It is in the Upper Leogra Valley in the municipal district of Valli del Pasubio; its duty was to bar the main road that runs from Rovereto through Vallarsa across the Pian delle Fugazze to the valley in the direction of Schio.
Owing to its position – it was difficult for artillery to reach it – the building was deprived of its original function and disarmed; accordingly, during the entire period of the Strafexpedition it was used as a gunpowder magazine and an ammunition depot for the troops of the Italian 1st Army engaged on Pasubio.
This fort is on Monte Enna between the municipalities of Valli del Pasubio and Torrebelvicino. It was erected to control the entire Leogra valley and at the same time the low ridge that joins Monte Novegno to the Pasubio massif between the Posina cleft and the hill of Xomo.
The work was a part of the Agno-Assa barrier, but it lost its strategic role when the Austro-Hungarian troops advanced, was disarmed and abandoned.
The rooms used for various functions can still be seen in the building. It is also a place to see owing to the splendid view it offers of the entire arc of the foothills from the Piccole Dolomiti to Pasubio.
This military construction stands at an altitude of 1,853 m on the top of Monte Campomolon; it was the most advanced defensive position in the Agno-Assa and Agno-Posina barrier. It is on the crest that marks the boundary between the Fiorentini and Tonezza plateaux opposite the Austro-Hungarian forts of Sommo Alto and Dosso delle Somme. Building started in 1912 but was never completed because the Austro-Hungarians reached the structure first and the Italians in command were forced to abandon it and blow it up.
It was restored recently, so that visitors can see the vault of the tunnel and the clearing laid to accommodate 149 mm cannons
This Italian fort is near the municipality of Treschè Conca on a spur of rock that rises sheer above the valley of the Astico. It was only used for a short time owing to its position behind the front line and then it was occupied by the Austro-Hungarians during the Strafexpedition. It came back into Italian hands after their retreat and was used as an observation post until the end of the war.
Fort Corbin is the biggest and most elaborate fort in the Asiago Plateau. After a careful restoration, its interior was fitted out as a museum that displays war finds, photographs of the time and historical documents.
This fortress is set against the rocky wall that rises sheer above the Astico valley 1,720 m high on Monte Campolongo in the district of the municipality of Rotzo. With Forts Corbin and Verena, it was in the third, Asiago sector of the Agno-Assa barrier and was one of the most modern and most important Italian military engineering works. It was in a strategic position directly opposite the line of Austro-Hungarian fortifications.
It was seriously damaged during the war, lost almost all its fire power, was destroyed and in the end was occupied by the enemy.
The Austro-Hungarians named this fort in the district of the municipality of Roana the “master of the Plateau” owing to its position at an altitude of 2,015 m; it is higher than any of the other forts with a 360° view over the plateaux of Asiago, Vezzena and Lavarone.
It was in the third, Asiago sector of the Agno-Assa barrier. Its sway, however, did not last long because it was attacked by the enemy troops, was abandoned and used as an observation post. It fell into the hands of the Austro-Hungarians during the Strafexpedition and stayed so until the end of the war.
Built entirely in stone in the second half of the 19th century, it was a barracks at first, situated on Monte Interrotto, which overlooks the locality of Camporovere.
It was partially fortified when the First World War broke out to defend the Italian border against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the war it was used as an observation post over the neighbouring areas but was heavily damaged during the fighting. The entire building was recently restored and the surroundings were tidied.
This fort is in the district of the municipality of Enego, on Monte Enego itself. It is a big two-storied building with inside it a kitchen, a pantry, lavatories, a gunpowder room, an electricity generator, a ventilation plant, central heating, big water tanks and dormitories for officers and other ranks. It was surrounded by a moat.
The fort was a part of the Brenta-Cismon barrier and its purpose was to hinder access to the eastern Valsugana in the event of an enemy attack.
After the recent restoration, visitors can appreciate the fort’s architecture, visit the interior and go up to the domes, from which there is a wonderful panorama.
“… il forte Verena con due
colpi squillanti,
metallici, laceranti,
che attraversavano
il cielo azzurro,
intona l’inno di guerra.
A distanza di pochi secondi,
rispondono, da lontano,
i cannoni di Campolongo
e Cima Corbin …”
Dal Diario dello sbarramento
Agno Assa / Agno Posina
