The group of friends at Rifugio Lagazuoi |
As far as it concerns the tourism movement related to history and the Great War in particular, we might say that there are not only the mass tours that the Western front has already known for years. In the "forgotten front" (the definition comes from a book of G.H. Cassar), namely the front between the Italian kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian empire at the war's outbreak, there are today worlds of possibile wonderful itineraries to discover, on the mountains and on the plains. Think about the Isonzo and Piave rivers flowing into the Adriatic sea, the hills of the Treviso province or the Asiago Plateau, the amazing trenches in the Dolomites and think about the possibilities of travelling from Lumbardy to Trentino, Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, up to the mountain border with Slovenia.
One of the aims of the First World War Centenary should be to increase the knowledge and the partnerships among the countries that are planning to celebrate it. In this ideal frame, a better knowledge and a friendly cooperation among all the "stakeholders" is highly recommended even if hard to accomplish. The World War I Museum of Maserada sul Piave would like to thank the group of Friends of In Flanders Fields museum (Ypres, Belgium) for their warm presence and visit during their last battlefield tour to Italy in September 2012. We are grateful to them for relying on our trip advices in building up the program and the itineraries through a Grappa-Montello-Piave-Dolomites battlefield tour. We happily supported with tips and friendly assistance and of course we wish this could become the start of a future cooperation between the two museums and cities, in order to encourage a mutual knowledge.
Their intense 5 day program is an example of a rich itinerary through the places of the First World War in Italy, on the front lines before and after the retreat of Caporetto. Here below is a summary of the journey legs:
Day 1: arrival, historical walk in Treviso, Possagno and the "wounded art" (Antonio Canova and the "Gipsoteca" in Possagno with a temporary exhibition).
Day 2: full day program on the Monte Grappa, the pivoting point of the Italian front before and after Caporetto.
Day 3: the Piave: World War I museum of Maserada sul Piave, Salettuol and the Papadopoli Island as the key-spots of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the Montello hill (sacrary of Nervesa, the monument dedicated to Italian aviator Francesco Baracca, Giavera British Cemetery), Fossalta and Hemingway, Fagarè and the sacrary dedicated to the 3rd Italian army corp.
Day 4: the war on the mountains, the Lagazuoi, the war on the Dolomites, visit of the Forte Tre Sassi at Sass De Stria.
Day 5: Quero, Alano, Pederobba and Cornuda, some important battlefields or points of interest of the Alpine foothills.
Of course the above program is only one among many that could be sketched. It tries to reach a good tuning, but one could think about hundreds of similar programs in new areas of the "forgotten front". Thanks also to this kind of trips the so called forgotten front will be enlisted in the "remembered fronts" of World War I in the near future.
One of the aims of the First World War Centenary should be to increase the knowledge and the partnerships among the countries that are planning to celebrate it. In this ideal frame, a better knowledge and a friendly cooperation among all the "stakeholders" is highly recommended even if hard to accomplish. The World War I Museum of Maserada sul Piave would like to thank the group of Friends of In Flanders Fields museum (Ypres, Belgium) for their warm presence and visit during their last battlefield tour to Italy in September 2012. We are grateful to them for relying on our trip advices in building up the program and the itineraries through a Grappa-Montello-Piave-Dolomites battlefield tour. We happily supported with tips and friendly assistance and of course we wish this could become the start of a future cooperation between the two museums and cities, in order to encourage a mutual knowledge.
Their intense 5 day program is an example of a rich itinerary through the places of the First World War in Italy, on the front lines before and after the retreat of Caporetto. Here below is a summary of the journey legs:
Day 1: arrival, historical walk in Treviso, Possagno and the "wounded art" (Antonio Canova and the "Gipsoteca" in Possagno with a temporary exhibition).
Day 2: full day program on the Monte Grappa, the pivoting point of the Italian front before and after Caporetto.
Day 3: the Piave: World War I museum of Maserada sul Piave, Salettuol and the Papadopoli Island as the key-spots of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the Montello hill (sacrary of Nervesa, the monument dedicated to Italian aviator Francesco Baracca, Giavera British Cemetery), Fossalta and Hemingway, Fagarè and the sacrary dedicated to the 3rd Italian army corp.
Day 4: the war on the mountains, the Lagazuoi, the war on the Dolomites, visit of the Forte Tre Sassi at Sass De Stria.
Day 5: Quero, Alano, Pederobba and Cornuda, some important battlefields or points of interest of the Alpine foothills.
Of course the above program is only one among many that could be sketched. It tries to reach a good tuning, but one could think about hundreds of similar programs in new areas of the "forgotten front". Thanks also to this kind of trips the so called forgotten front will be enlisted in the "remembered fronts" of World War I in the near future.