Percorsi della Grande Guerra (Alpe Vederna, Tognola, Cavallazza)

Above San Martino di Castrozza the First World War left a front line in stone. The ridges of Alpe Vederna, Tognola and the Cavallazza, as well as the Castellazzo and Lagorai, preserve galleries, trenches and barracks positions from the Austro-Italian mountain front — an open-air record of the war in the landscape.

Why it matters

Between 1915 and 1918 this high ground was the border itself. The destination's official portal records the "stoli" — the local word for rock galleries — still visible at strategic points such as Morosna on Alpe Vederna, the Cavallazza, Tognola, Totoga, the Castellazzo and along the Lagorai chain, and notes that on the Cavallazza Italian Alpini dug trenches against enemy fire. The park authority describes the area as an open-air museum of trenches, walkways and positions. It preserves an authentic defensive system, laid out at two thousand metres where supply, weather and altitude shaped the war as much as gunfire did.

What to notice

The works reflect their military function. Galleries pierced through rock protected garrisons from shelling while preserving observation over the passes; trench lines on the Cavallazza crest show carefully calculated sightlines; terraced platforms and ruined baraccamenti mark former barracks, cableway stations and ammunition stores. The park's documentation highlights the Castellazzo, whose position between the Pale group, the Lagorai and the Bocche-Iuribrutto range dominates the Rolle crossing. Carved inscriptions, mule tracks cut into slopes and stonework also survive across the site.

Context and history

When Italy entered the war in 1915, the front in this sector ran along exactly these ridges, and the mountain communities paid heavily: the park records Primiero, Vanoi and Val di Fiemme as being on the front line, and the Austrians burned the resort of San Martino di Castrozza at the outbreak of hostilities. After the armistice the works were abandoned to the elements until memory projects returned them to view. The park authority, working with provincial heritage bodies and the local community's centenary programme, cleared and documented field works on the Castellaz, restored and studied the Forte Dossaccio, and surveyed wartime structures across the Colbricon, Cavallazza, Iuribrutto and Totoga zones.