Lagazuoi is a mountain in the Dolomites in northern Italy, lying at an altitude of 2,835 meters (9,301 ft), about 18 kilometers (11 mi) southwest on the road from Cortina d'Ampezzo to the Veneto region. It can be reached by cable car. It houses Rifugio Lagazuoi, a mountain shelter located at the northwest corner. The mountain range is well known for its wartime tunnels and mine warfare. Extensive tunnels were built by Italian forces trying to wrest control from the Austro-Hungarian forces, who were also building the tunnels. The tunnels are now open as a de facto museum.
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| Lagazuoi Mountain Italy |
Open-air museum
The Dolomites is an open-air museum that treasures the country's great and sometimes brutal history. In the First World War, in the area of the dolomite mountains of Cristallo, Ampezzo, Tofane, Lagazuoi, Tre Cime di Lavaredo, and others, the front line of two Austrian and Italian armies were fighting among themselves. High sheer cliffs made it possible to control the valleys and strike the enemy. Forts, ammunition depots, tunnels, and trenches were built in these places.
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| Lagazuoi Mountain Italy |
On opposite sides of Lagazuoi Mountain, both armies carved out a fortress for storing ammunition. Subsequently, in an effort to destroy other people's ammunition, opponents began to build a long tunnel to blow up warehouses. And then the mines went off, the traces of the explosion of which are visible to this day, and the rocks flew into the air.
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| Lagazuoi Mountain Italy |
The fortified Fort Tre Sassi, built by the Austro-Hungarians at the end of the 19th century in case of war, was destroyed under the blows of the howitzers of the Italians, who took a higher position near the group of inaccessible vertical cliffs of the Cinque Torri, which the Austro-Hungarians could not take into account when building the fort. Today, there is a museum inside the restored Fort Tre Sassi.
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| Lagazuoi Mountain Italy |
In the glacier of Mount Marmolada at an altitude of 3 thousand meters, the Austrians built a whole military city, which went 50 meters deep. It currently houses the Museum of the First World War. Every year, the remains of soldiers and other objects are found in the glacier, reminding us of the bloody battles in these places.
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| Lagazuoi Mountain Italy |
In memory of the battles in the Dolomites, a network of routes was laid where the Austrians and Italians lived and fought on both sides of the front: these are the Lagazuoi mountains, Conturines, Settsass, Sassongher, Sella, Civetta, Pelmo, Tofane, Marmolada Glacier, Cinque Torri, etc.