Saturday morning, Paul had to work until about noon, but then we decided to go explore. I will do a terrible job of describing this place, so please read the link here and also this one here. We drove over to the town of Asiago, yes like the cheese, and while it is maybe 30 minutes as the crow flies, it was over an hour of switchback mountain roads. Although, to be fair, Paul did take the side roads. The highway is a little more direct…but not by much. Anyway, in Asiago there is another War Memorial. They are known as MILITARY SACRARIUM here, war cemeteries. The first picture below is a display of all the ones in the country. I have mentioned the one on top of Mt. Grappa before, and this is another one. Oddly enough, the only two we’ve visited so far were displayed right next to each other.
We hadn’t set out to end up here, but as we were driving into the town, we saw the monument towering over the hills. So we drove in that general direction until we found it. The parking is at the bottom of a long, steep, tree lined road leading up to the monument, so we parked and started our hike up. Below is the sign at the base of that road. Basically it says ‘Ministry of Defense’ and ‘military cemetery of Asiago’.
This was about halfway up the road. I use the excuse of picture-taking to stop for breath! But I’m pretty sure Paul knows my trick by now!
Getting closer…you can see the people-for-scale. It really is a huge monument.
You are able to walk up a stair case on each side of the entryway and go on the roof/base of the arches, but they were roped off for whatever reason.
There are over 33,000 Italian solders’ remains entombed here. Nearly 13,000 are known, and in individual little spaces with their name and rank. About 23,000 are unidentified, and in two mass unknown soldier crypts. There are also nearly 20,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers’ remains here. I didn’t take very many pictures inside, because although I didn’t see any ‘no photo’ signs (or what I thought would say that in Italian), no one else was taking pictures. The base of this monument is set up in a hashtag sort of shape, like a tic-tac-toe board. Down each crossing aisle, are the tombs, and in the middle square there is an alter. The center also has a memorial specifically naming the many medics that were killed. All of these deaths are from a specific time range in the First World War, as many battles took place right around the hills of Asiago. The links up above will explain it much better.
When you first walk in the large front entryway, on either side is a small room. One is dedicated to fighting in 1915-16, and the other is 1917-18. They were very small, and crowded, so we just sort of peeked inside. There are actual letters home, uniforms, weapons, maps, etc. from the soldiers in the battles. Despite being the ‘enemy’, the Austro-Hungarian soldiers are remembered here, as well.
Below, outside the 1915-16 room’s door, is an artillery shell. Paul’s leg for scale.
So, that was our Saturday. Seeing some scenery, learning some history, exploring the world. Check out this YouTube video of the town of Asiago! We got back to our apartment around 8pm, and the ‘neighbors’ (our landlords that live in the apartment next to us) were having a garden party. We’d been invited earlier, and made a quick appearance. They are musicians, at least as a hobby, so there were many people coming, and going, and having jam sessions until well after midnight. We didn’t stay long, but we left all the doors open and enjoyed the live music all night.
The Mishafesto 