Strada delle 52 Gallerie

Road of 52 Tunnels, Road of the first Army
Strada delle 52 gallerie, Strada della Prima Armata
Road of 52 Tunnels
Site information
Type	military mule
Controlled by	Kingdom of Italy
Open to the public	yes
Location
Road of 52 Tunnels, Road of the first Army
Coordinates	45°46′44″N11°13′41″E / 45.779°N 11.228°E / 45.779; 11.228
Site history
Built	February 6, 1917
Built by	Kingdom of Italy
In use	Kingdom of Italy
Battles/wars	World War I

Strada delle 52 Gallerie
Length	6.5 km (4.0 mi)
Trailheads	Bocchetta Campiglia (1.216 m) [1] Porte del Pasubio (1.928 m) [2]
Use	Hiking
Elevation change	750 m (2,460 ft)
Highest point	the end of 47th tunnel, 2,000 m (6,600 ft)
Lowest point	Bocchetta Campiglia, 1,216 m (3,990 ft)
Grade	22 %
Season	summer
Surface	rock
Right of way	military mule

The Strada delle 52 Gallerie ("Road of 52 tunnels"), also known as the 52 Tunnel Road, or Strada della Prima Armata ("Road of the First Army") is a military mule road built during World War I on the Pasubio massif in Veneto, Italy.

The road winds between Bocchetta Campiglia (1,216 metres [3,990 ft]) ^[1] and the Porte del Pasubio (1,934 metres [6,345 ft]) ^[2] crossing the southern slope of the mountain with its spires, deep canyons and sheer rock faces, outside of the range of Austro-Hungarian artillery.

Features

It is 6,555 metres (21,506 ft) long, of which 2,335 metres (7,661 ft) ^[3] are divided into 52 tunnels excavated from the rock, each tunnel is numbered and characterized by a particular name. The minimum width of 2.20 metres (7.2 ft) was originally intended to allow the transit of two mules with their baggage. ^[4] The slope of the road reaches 22 percent, with an average of 12 percent. ^[4] Notable among the many tunnels is the 19th because, in addition to being the longest (320 metres (1,050 ft)), it has a helical layout with 4 hairpin bends, inside a gigantic rock tower. ^[5]

The Tunnel 20 is carved out of a rock tower, and to overcome the difference in height, twists around itself like a corkscrew. Tunnels 41 through 45 run below the Passo Fontana d'oro (1,875 metres [6,152 ft]). On leaving the 47th, the highest point of the road (2,000 metres [6,562 ft]), there is a magnificent panorama.^{[ peacock prose ]}

The passage of the 15th gallery

Top of the 20th tunnel (spiral tunnel)

Completion

A masterpiece of military engineering and boldness (it was produced by the 33rd Miners Company of the Italian Army with the help of six hundred workers), considering the conditions and the time it was built, and the speed of execution. Work began on February 6, 1917, and was completed in November 1917.

Its implementation was of great strategic importance because it allowed communication and transfer of supplies from the base to the summit area of Mt. Pasubio. Key aspects of the road include year round access, located outside of enemy artillery range and accessible by mule. These were all problems with the similar road of Scarubbi which is only accessible with motorized vehicles, within the range of the Austro-Hungarian guns, and only during the summer.

Mountain biking is strictly prohibited due to a number of fatal accidents.

Order of tunnel Name of tunnel Length of tunnel Picture 1 Cap. Zappa 17 metres 2 Gen. D'Havet 65 metres 3 Rovereto 14 metres 4 Battisti 31 metres 5 Oberdan 10 metres 6 Trieste 17 metres 7 Gen. Cascino 35 metres 8 Gen. Cantore 23 metres 9 Gen. Zoppi 78 metres 10 Sauro 12 metres 11 Magg. Randaccio 28 metres 12 Cap. Motti 95 metres 13 Cap. Filzi 27 metres 14 Cap. Melchiori 61 metres 15 Tortona 45 metres 16 Reggio Calabria 74 metres 17 Bergamo 52 metres 18 Parma 46 metres 19 Re (Victor Emmanuel III of Italy) 318 metres 20 Gen. Cadorna 86 metres 21 Gen. Porro 20 metres 22 Breganze 8 metres 23 Gen. Capello 18 metres

Order of tunnel Name of tunnel Length of tunnel Picture 24 Bologna 16 metres 25 Aquila 11 metres 26 Napoli 24 metres 27 Cap. Picone 98 metres 28 Genoa 14 metres 29 Spezia 31 metres 30 Miss 10 metres 31 Gen. Papa 72 metres 32 Palazzolo 48 metres 33 33ª minatori 57 metres 34 Gen. Giustetti 132 metres 35 Trani 10 metres 36 Gen. Garibaldi 12 metres 37 Balilla 26 metres 38 Turin 29 metres 39 Mantua 53 metres 40 Trento 10 metres 41 26ª minatori 24 metres 42 Macerata 19 metres 43 Polesine 55 metres 44 Zappatori Liguria 22 metres 45 Plotone 25ª minatori 83 metres 46 Piceno 65 metres 47 Pallanza 22 metres 48 Cesena 14 metres 49 Soldato italiano 19 metres 50 Cav. Vittorio Veneto 27 metres 51 Plotone minatori sardo 66 metres 52 Sardinia 86 metres

Similar Treks

• Alta Via 1
• Alta Via 2
• Alta Via dei Monti Liguri
• Grand Italian Trail
• Selvaggio Blu (Sardinia)
• Caminito del Rey
• Tofana di Rozes

References

Notes

1. (Gattera 2007, p. 27).
2. (Gattera 2007, p. 38).
3. ( Gattera 2007 , p. 100-109)length of the galleries is obtained by adding the lengths of the individual galleries mentioned in the book
4. ( Gattera 2007 , p. 78) taken from the technical report of Captain Corrado Picone.
5. ( Gattera 2007 , p. 30).

Cartography

• (in Italian) "Sentieri Pasubio e Carega-foglio Nord" 1:20.000 Sezioni vicentine del CAI
• (in Italian) Sentieri della val di Posina, edito dalla Provincia di Vicenza, assessorato al turismo 26 April 2013 ^{[ dead link ]}
• Kompass – carte, ed. (2003). Carta turistica 1:50000 n.101 – Rovereto M.Pasubio (in Italian). Kompass-Kt.-GmbH. ISBN   9783854911036.

Bibliography

• Gattera, Claudio (2007). Gino Rossato Editore (ed.). Il pasubio e la strada delle 52 gallerie (in Italian). G. Rossato. ISBN   978-88-8130-017-4.

External links

• (in Italian) Strada delle 52 gallerie
• (in Italian) Strada delle 52 gallerie Itinerario
• (in German) Bericht über die Strada delle 52 Galerie im Explorermagazin