52 Galleries
A TRAIL OF BEAUTY WITH A CRUEL PAST
I love hikes and mountains. So, gathering with a bunch of friends and heading to a day hike, is one of the best thing to do in summer. Especially in Italy, where there are the most beautiful and breath-taking mountains in all Europe (here, I said it).
We went to Pasubio, close to Vicenza, in the pre-Alps, and the trail is called "Strada delle 52 gallerie" (Road of the 52 galleries). It's a military trail built during World War I on the massif of Pasubio, and it starts at Campiglia (1,219 m) up to gates of Pasubio (1,934 m). We actually reached the highest point at Cima Palon at 2,232 m and the whole trail took us 6 hours back and forward at normal paste.
The story about this trail is very interesting and bittersweet at the same time. This trail was the first line and theatre of a series of bloody battles between Italians and Austro-Hungarian armies during World War I. Along the trail are preserved many memories of these tragic wartime events: in particular, the Road of Heroes (Strada degli Eroi) was almost entirely excavated in the rock, to allow supplies to be brought to the Pasubio front from behind the lines, safely protected from the fire of the Austrian artillery. The road is a masterpiece of military engineering and bold, considering the conditions and the times in which it was constructed, and the rapidity of performance: work began on February 6, 1917 and was concluded in November 1917.
Italy has beautiful scenery and incredible panoramas, even in places strongly affected by the war. It is one of the best high level paths in the Dolomites and walking it is a memorable experience.
The sky was clear in the morning, and lots of people were hiking with us. We saw some people with paraglinder flying over our head, I would say the whole way up in the morning was quite crowded.
We knew it could get cloudy toward higher altitude, so we speeded up a bit during the climb to the very top.
At the top of Cima Palon (2,232 m) is where you can see the whole view, from the Vicentine plains, to the high Dolomites in the north. Really amazing!
And here is where we saw the most clear rests of the cruel battle... bomb creater, crumbled rocks, trenches, countless galleries and most of all, the two teeth: the Italian and Austro-Hungarian one. Close to each other, and we could totally pictured the fight between the two fronts.
It's a melancholic and sad place where horrible things happened. All the Alps are covered by story like this, it is what makes the Alps so unique e fascinating.
