Tre Sassi fort (Italian Forte Tre Sassi or Forte Tra i Sassi; Ladino Fort Intra i Sas) is a fortress and museum on the road to the Passo di Valparola, within the comune of Cortina d'Ampezzo in the southern (Dolomitic) Alps of the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Hidden between the Ampezzo valley and the high Val Badia, it was built by Austrians between 1897 and 1901 as a fortification against attack from the Italians on the Falzàrego and Valparo. [1] [2] During World War I it was a favorite target for the Italians, [3] and the fort was destroyed as there was inadequate artillery to defend it. [4]
Forte Tre Sassi is one of three preserved sites which make up the Great War Museum in the Dolomites. [5] The fort houses a museum and an information center. [6]
The Forte Tre Sassi is located at an elevation of 2,197 metres (7,208 ft). [3] It was constructed by Austrians in 1897 during the Austro-Hungarian period on the Passo Valparola. Situated between Sass de Stria and Piccolo Lagazuoi, dominating the passage between the Passo Falzarego and Val Badia in South Tyrol (Alto Adige), it was part of the large complex of Austrian fortifications built on the Italian border in the late 19th and early 20th century. Rendered unusable due to a bombing by the Italians on 5 July 1915, the ruins remained in a state of disrepair until the advent of the 21st century, when the fort was restored by the local administration of Ampezzo, with the assistance of the Lancedelli family.[ citation needed ]
The fort houses a museum containing relics related to the First World War. [7] The museum was established on 27 September 2002 and opened to the public on 12 August 2003. It houses the historical artifacts of World War I collected by the Lancedelli family and it is also managed by them. A man dressed as a World War I soldier stands guard outside the facility. [8] The exhibits were collected over a period of 45 years and the museum is reported to have an attendance of 20,000 visitors a year. [9] [10] Army barracks and trenches have been recreated near the museum and a snowshoeing tour enables visitors to appreciate what life was like in the trenches in winter. [9]
The Dolomites, also known as the Dolomite Mountains, Dolomite Alps or Dolomitic Alps, are a mountain range in northeastern Italy. They form part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley. The Dolomites are in the regions of Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, covering an area shared between the provinces of Belluno, Vicenza, Verona, Trentino, South Tyrol, Udine and Pordenone.
Cortina d'Ampezzo sometimes abbreviated to simply Cortina, is a town and comune in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite river, in an alpine valley, it is an upscale summer and winter sport resort known for its skiing trails, scenery, accommodation, shops and après-ski scene, and for its jet set and Italian aristocratic crowd.
Alta Via 1 is a 125-kilometre-long high-level public footpath which runs through the eastern Dolomites in Italy. It is also known as the Dolomite High Route 1. It passes through some of the finest scenery in the Dolomites. The path runs south from Pragser Wildsee, near Toblach, to Belluno. Prags can be accessed by bus, and Belluno has both train and bus services.
Badia is a comune (municipality) in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It is one of the five Ladin-speaking communities of the Val Badia which is part of the Ladinia region.
The Falzarego Pass is a high mountain pass in the province of Belluno in Italy.
The Valparola Pass is a high mountain pass in the Dolomites in the province of Belluno in Italy.
The Dolomites Railway, originally the Ampezzaner Bahn or Ampezzaner Railway, was a railway in Northern Italy crossing the Dolomites mountains. The 64.9-kilometre (40.3-mile) long railway began in Calalzo and ended in Toblach. Its gauge was 950 mm — "Italian metre gauge". The Cortina d'Ampezzo - Toblach part was closed in 1962 and the Cortina d'Ampezzo - Calalzo di Cadore in 1964. Two EMUs went to the Trento - Malè railway and are still in use. Other vehicles went to the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane.
Cristallo is a mountain massif in the Italian Dolomites, northeast of Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the province of Belluno, Veneto, northern Italy. It is a long, indented ridge with four summits higher than 3,000 metres. The mountain range is part of the Ampezzo Dolomites Natural Park.
The Maratona dles Dolomites, is an annual single-day road bicycle race covering seven mountain passes in the Dolomites. Open to amateur cyclists, the Maratona—with 9,000 riders chosen from 30,000 applicants, from over 70 nations—is one of the biggest Italian Granfondo bicycle races. National Geographic described it as "one of the biggest, most passionate, and most chaotic bike races on Earth."
Cinque Torri comprise a small rock formation belonging to Nuvolao group in the Dolomiti Ampezzane north-west of San Vito di Cadore and south-west of Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The Dolomites Gold Cup Race was a car race on public roads open to traffic, which was run in the Dolomite Mountains of northern Italy for ten years from 1947 to 1956. It took place along an anti-clockwise circuit that was 304 km long and usually took about 3 to 4 hours to complete the one lap that made up the race distance, with the start and finish in the town of Cortina d'Ampezzo. The circuit went through many Italian towns, and it had nearly 2,000 meters of elevation change- more than 6 1/2 times that of the Nürburgring and the Isle of Man TT track.
Lagazuoi is a mountain in the Dolomites of northern Italy, lying at an elevation of 2,835 metres (9,301 ft), about 18 kilometres (11 mi) southwest by road from Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Veneto Region. The mountain is part of the Ampezzo Dolomites Natural Park.
Sorapiss, also referred to as Sorapis or Punta Sorapiss, is a mountain in the Dolomites within the Veneto region of northern Italy. Situated in the comune of Cortina d'Ampezzo, it has an elevation of 3,205 metres (10,515 ft). In its vicinity is a mountain pass of the same name, as well as Sorapiss Lake, at the foot of the mountain. The mountain range is part of the Ampezzo Dolomites Natural Park.
Rinaldo Zardini Palaeontology Museum is a palaeontological museum in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. It is one of three museums administered by Le Regole d'Ampezzo, the other two being the Mario Rimoldi Modern Art Museum and the Regole of Ampezzo Ethnographic Museum. It is also a member of "DOMUS, the Network of Science Museums of the Veneto Dolomites". The paleontology museum opened in August 1975, exhibits Dolomite fossils. The museum bears the name of Rinaldo Zardini, a local researcher, who collected the materials and catalogued them. Thousands of his findings are part of the collections, though he collected over 1,000,000 articles in his lifetime.
Mario Rimoldi Modern Art Museum is a contemporary and modern art museum in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. It is one of three museums administered by Le Regole d'Ampezzo, the other two being the Rinaldo Zardini Palaeontology Museum and the Regole of Ampezzo Ethnographic Museum. It opened in 1974 after a donation from Rosa Braun, the widow of Mario Rimoldi. Rimoldi's collection was displayed in 1941, it moved to the Regole d'Ampezzo in 1963, and by 1995, the collection contained 364 works of art. The collection is said to contain some of the most influential Italian art produced between World War I and World War II, and provides a perspective of the modern art movement in Veneto, Italy pre-1940.The museum's permanent exhibition includes works by Filippo De Pisis, Felice Carena, Pio Semeghini, Renato Guttuso, Tullio Garbari, and Massimo Campigli. The museum is also used as a venue for live music performances.
Cadini di Misurina is a group of mountains in the eastern Dolomites in the Province of Belluno, Italy. These mountains rise to the west of Auronzo di Cadore, north-east of Cortina d'Ampezzo and south of Dobbiaco, in a position overlooking Lake Misurina. They are part of the Dolomites subsection of Sesto, of Braies, and Ampezzo, and belong to the municipality of Auronzo di Cadore. The highest peak is the Cima Cadin of San Lucano.
The Piz Popena is a mountain in the Dolomites of Auronzo and Misurina, located in Veneto. It culminates at 3,152 metres (10,341 ft), and belongs to the Cristallo group.
The White War is the name given to the fighting in the high-altitude Alpine sector of the Italian front during the First World War, principally in the Dolomites, the Ortles-Cevedale Alps and the Adamello-Presanella Alps. More than two-thirds of this conflict zone lies at an altitude above 2,000m, rising to 3905m at Mount Ortler. In 1917 New York World correspondent E. Alexander Powell wrote: “On no front, not on the sun-scorched plains of Mesopotamia, nor in the frozen Mazurian marshes, nor in the blood-soaked mud of Flanders, does the fighting man lead so arduous an existence as up here on the roof of the world.”
The Austro-Hungarian fortifications on the Italian border were constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries to protect against invasion from Italy. Most were built in what is today the Trentino-Alto Adige region; some built outside this territory were ceded to Italy after 1866. By the First World War many of them were obsolete, but nevertheless played a role in deterring and containing Italian assaults.
The Geological Museum of the Dolomites is located in Predazzo, Fiemme Valley, in the Trentino Italian province. It is managed by the Comune of Predazzo and the Science Museum (MUSE) of Trento since 2012.