Long-distance paths have acquired quite a following in the past few decades. In the US you have ways like the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail standing as the Big Three. There are plenty of other long-distance paths to spend days upon days on, as well, such as the Arizona Trail, the Green Mountain Trail, and on and on. Of course, the American examples pale in number when compared to the Old World.
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Monte San Michele. Welcome to one of the battlefields upon where so many Italians, as well as their opponents from Austria-Hungary, spilled blood during the 1915 to 1916. These campaigns fought in the harsh limestone hills just east off the Isonzo River. The extreme efforts of that long year and three months remembered by King Vittorio Emanuele III’s proclamation in 1922 of the hill’s inclusion as a zona sacra, a place of special memory to the Italian nation. At least three zone sacra in Italy relate to World War 1 – Pasubio and Monte Grappa are the other two. There might be more but those along with Monte San Michele are the big three.
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Rombon sits at the eastern end of the dolomitic Kanin massif. It is a serious mountain. The climb is relatively straightforward, but it entails 1,750 meters of elevation gain over 5 ½ to 7 hours of climbing. Once you are up there, you have all of that elevation to lose. There is no water nor alpine huts up here. The mountain rises to 2298 meters while Bovec, the normal starting point, sits at a mere 460 meters. For over two years, Italians and soldiers from the Austro-Hungarian Empire grappled with each other amidst the alpine splendor. The fighting conducted sporadically, but when fought, bitterly.
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Along the old highway leading south into Trieste – State Highway 14 – just past where the ancient river of mystery, the Timavo, emerges to run its short course to the sea, stands a stone monument in memory to Maggiore Giovanni Randaccio who lost his life near here 28 May 1917. A short burst of machine-gun fire mortally wounded the young 32-year-old Italian. His death due to Austrian gunfire. Alas, a death also a result of his friendship with the self-proclaimed Vate of Italy, Gabriele D’Annunzio.
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One of the true gems of the Mediterranean world is the little town of Kotor lying at the head of a ten-mile-long fjord system flanked by huge peaks rising over 4,000 feet above the waters. Lying deep in its mountain fastness, Kotor positively exudes magic, even in the wake of ever-increasing numbers of tourists and development threatening to divest the enchantment. Hidden amongst the cliffs and peaks the bays and fjords lie 83 forts around Cattaro erected during the 19th century by the military of the Austrian empire. Their role, to both defend the Bocce di Cattaro – Bay of Kotor – from sea and land attack.
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In the past, I have not been a big fan of vacationing on huge cruise ships. A few friends and I watched from the shore of Glacier Bay as cruise ship after cruise ship made their way up the large fjord. We were happy experiencing the wilderness of one of the America’s most magnificent national parks on a more personal scale. Just us and the grizzly bears. Could the Bays of Kotor change that feeling?
Another time, I stayed at a hotel in Kusadsi for almost a week a few years ago. Every day brought several behemoths to dock at the waterfront. Buses lined up for the inevitable bus pilgrimage to nearby Ephesus. And then, at sunset, the giant ships would set sail into the sunset for their next day’s destination – Bodrum, Mykonos, Santorini, Istanbul. Again, I was happy to be staying behind. This year, I bit the bullet joining a cruise taking in the Adriatic and western Mediterranean. The cruise turned out very enjoyable. The highlight, the slow entry into the wondrous fjord system making up the Bocche di Cattaro, known locally as the Boka Kotorska or simply, the Magic of Kotor.
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A recent trip took me to Kotor, Montenegro. The city sits spectacularly ensconced amidst mountains and fjords, probably the most scenic port in the Mediterranean. Kotor has seen its share of history over the centuries, but one relatively recent story gets overlooked by even more recent events leading to one of the most famous movies of all time, The Sound of Music. Understated and often forgotten, here, the story of Georg Luther von Trapp, ace of Austro-Hungarian submariners from World War 1. His career before falling back on family and music concerned the sea and the Bays of Kotor.
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To better understand the eleven Italian offensives of World War One on the lower Isonzo River, two highpoints should be among your tour stops – Monte San Michele (for the first six offensives) and Cerje (for the rest). Atop the tower built on Cerje, one has a view over most of the Isonzo battlefields from Sabotin-Monte Santo to the final Austrian lines atop Monte Ermada. The vastness of the Carso-Kras region lays out at your fingertips. The Adriatic Sea glints in the distance to the southeast while the snowcapped Julians shine to the north.
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Right around the southeast corner of the former Royal Palace in Torino stands an old Roman gate, repurposed on the west side into the Palazzo Madama, the first Senate of the Kingdom of Italy and today a museum of art dating back to the late Middle Ages. The museum opens up onto Piazza Castello to the west with a statue dedicated to the army of Sardinia which played a significant role in the Risorgimiento. On the east side, past the two remaining Roman towers, stands a large monument mounted by two groups of four soldiers with a large, somewhat brooding man standing alone, fists clenched, looking to the east. This man depicted is Emanuele Filiberto Vittorio Eugenio Alberto Genova Giuseppe Maria di Savoia, Duke of Aosta and a a cousin of Italy’s king Victor Emanuel III.
Filiberto, during World War One, led the Italian Third Army against the Austro-Hungarian forces on the Carso for two years from June 1915 until October 1917. Erected between 1933 and 1937 after the general’s death in Torino in 1931, the bronze statue stands cast from four captured artillery pieces, the “Statue in a Coat” – “statua in un cappotto”. The monument memorializes the “Undefeated Duke” of the “Undefeated Third Army” – “la armatta invitta”.
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Early in the morning of 24 October 1917, the newly constituted Austro-German 14th Army launched the Caporetto Offensive – known on the Austrian side as the Das Wunder von Karfeit or the Miracle of Caporetto. An integral part of the “miracle” was “Der Durchbruch bei Flitsch” – “The Breakthrough at Bovec”. In the two-pronged offensive, the use of gas shaped the deadly results in both zones of the attack.
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