LONG-DISTANCE PATHS RECOUNT THE GREAT WAR HIGH IN THE ALPS

Unknown Austro-Hungarian grave in one of the countless sinkholes - dolinas - of the Carso found along the Pot miru - Path of Peace.
Unknown Austro-Hungarian grave in one of the countless sinkholes – dolinas – of the Carso found along the Pot miru – Path of Peace – one of Europe’s long-distance paths.

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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CAPORETTO OSSUARY – CATRASTROPHIC DEFEAT REVISED AS A NEW BEGINNING

Road entrance leading from Kobarid up to the Italian Ossuary.

Over 600,000 Italians lie dead on the battlefields of the Great War with another 170,000 dying of illness or wounds in hospitals further back.  Buried in small battlefield cemeteries, like elsewhere across the destroyed landscapes of Europe, remains in the small cemeteries were gathered up into larger cemeteries.  Unlike the American example of offering repatriation of remains to families – two thirds of American families opted for that option – here in Italy, only about 50,000 remains returned to the families.  By 1927, too many cemeteries remained for the State to maintain upkeep.  So, the huge ossuaries – charnel houses, in England – came onto the scene. Here at the Caporetto Ossuary, mythology transposed defeat into victory of sorts. A victory leading to the Blackshirt March on Rome; a renewed and greater Italy.

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