HISTORY

1915-1918
The Great War

HISTORY

The war years

The Vicenza foothills were marked by the dramatic events of the First World War: we can still see the scars on the land, witnesses to the sacrifice of thousands of young soldiers ignorant of the reason for these ferocious battles that led to the total destruction of villages and hamlets and created the social phenomenon of the refugee, since their inhabitants were forced to leave their homes and seek comfort elsewhere.

This geographically homogeneous area was the only one in the entire front line to suffer the fate of a state of uninterrupted belligerence, becoming the scene of some of the bloodiest battles fought during the “spring offensive”, better known under the name of Strafexpedition.

1915

May 1915

Italy enters the war against Austro-Hungary;

the war of the forts and the Italian occupation of Monte Pasubio

1916

15 May 1916

The Strafexpedition commences on the Vicenza plateaux

June 1916

The offensive is contained at the edges of the Vicenza plain

23 July 1916

The Italians regain Monte Cimone

23 September 1916

Mine on Monte Cimone and the Austro-Hungarians reconquer Monte Cimone

1917

October 1917

Retreat to the Piave and the Battle of Caporetto

November 1917

The Austro-Hungarians are stopped from the Piave to Monte Grappa

1918

15 June 1918

Battle of the Solstice on Monte Grappa

October 1918

Italian offensive on Monte Grappa

23 October 1918

The last battle – Vittorio Veneto

4 November 1918

The armistice is signed at Villa Giusti in Padua

1921

1921

The Unknown Soldier

HISTORY / MEMORIALS

The War Memorials

The four war memorials are structures that gather together the fallen (known and unknown) of the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies: they are symbols of our freedom and repositories of remembrance and are also a warning not to repeat useless and inhuman barbarity of this kind.

HISTORY / EVENTS

War sites

The events and organisation of the War brought ineffaceable transformations to the Vicenza landscape: road layouts and communications were altered, new paths, roads, railways and cableways were created and forts, trenches, camps, emplacements, hutments, aqueducts, hospitals and cemeteries were built.
The hand of man modified the natural environment drastically and these places represent the visible change that took place, creating a strong emotional impact

During your itinerary along the Alta Via high altitude Great War hiking trail, we suggest you read and look at the landscape so that you can interpret it and ponder on the signs left by man as repositories of knowledge and remembrance.

THE BATTLEFIELDS

CONSECRATED LAND

MILITARY

CEMETERIES

STONES SPEAK