Mostra 1914-1918 La Gran Vera

La Gran Vera at Moena's Teatro Navalge explores the First World War through the experience of the Fassa and Fiemme valleys. Its account connects the distant Austro-Russian front with warfare in the Dolomites.

Why it matters

The exhibition considers the impact of war on local populations as well as military events. Men from the valleys served far from home before the conflict reached the mountains above their own communities.

What to notice

Four themes structure the account: Galicia in 1914, trench life, the Dolomite front from 1915 and opposition to war. Austrian war painters' images accompany maps and photographs. Reconstructions and dioramas interpret trench conditions, while uniforms and other objects document the mountain war. Images assembled by Ernst Friedrich bring an explicitly anti-war perspective to the final theme.

Context and history

Opened in 2014 for the war's centenary, the exhibition developed through collaboration involving Moena, the Ladin Cultural Institute and the association Sul Fronte dei Ricordi. Michele Simonetti Federspiel and Mauro Caimi curated its combination of historical objects, visual testimony and regional memory.