A glorious ascent in Italy's Dolomites reveals the Great War's history

By Sandy Gall

Imposing backdrop: The pretty village of Corvara is located close to the Gardena pass


One glorious sunny morning we took the cable car (or gondola, as they call it here) from the foot of Lagazuoi, the most historic mountain in the Dolomites, and were hoisted with Ferrari-like acceleration over the pines and up the rock face. At the top, more than 9,000ft above sea level, the wind was icy, but the view superb.

Filippo, our fresh-faced guide, pointed across the valley to a vast mountain, clad in greenish ice, benignly beautiful. 'Marmolada', said Filippo, 'the highest mountain in the Dolomites, 3,342 metres'.

As a non-metric Briton, I did a quick calculation. 'About 11,000 ft,' I said. To be precise, Marmolada is 10,964 ft above sea level and the name, incidentally, has nothing to do with the great British breakfast preserve.

'A week ago,' Fillipo continued, 'someone saw a boot sticking out of the ice at the bottom of Marmolada. When he tried to pull it out he found it was attached to a leg ... and the leg to a whole skeleton.'

'Poor man,' my wife Eleanor said, sympathetically. 'Who was he?'

'An Austrian soldier,' said Filippo. He must have died between 1915 and 1917, during the Great War. The trenches along the foot of Marmolada were the Austrian front line, Filippo explained. Although, during those two years, the Italians lost large numbers of soldiers in their war against the Austrians and Germans, they ended up on the winning side with Britain, France and the U.S..

As a result, under the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in 1919, Italy was awarded the whole of the South Tyrol up to the Brenner Pass and including Cortina d'Ampezzo, where the Winter Olympics were held in 1956.


Feat of endurance: Writer Sandy Gall and his guide Filippo in The Dolomites


Following Filippo, we walked across the top of Lagazuoi along a fortified trench to an outpost which once dominated the Austrian positions.

The stone ceiling was so low that — being over six feet tall — I found it difficult to avoid bumping my head on the wooden cross beams. The whole top of the mountain, we discovered, is honeycombed with tunnels sunk into the living rock and with steps leading from one level to another.

Despite months of trench warfare, neither side could gain a real advantage. Then one day, a dashing Italian officer named Martini and a contingent of Alpine troops captured a strategic ledge half way up Lagazuoi, giving the Austrians a nasty surprise and enabling the Italians to fire down on their fort, called Tre Sassi. In an attempt to end the stalemate, both sides started tunnelling and mining the mountain which became the battlefield itself.

Conditions in winter were appalling - they had 30f t of snow in 1916 - and the museum at Tre Sassi has some fascinating examples of cold weather clothing, including a pair of hand-made outer boots which must have measured 18 in by six.

The Italians, brilliant engineers, have wrought a small miracle restoring the trenches at Cinque Torri [Five Towers], which was our last stop.


Treacherous: Austrian troops navigate their way through a glacier in Marmolada during World War I
We started with a glass of sparkling Franciacorta Cavalleri, methode champenoise, in the gleaming, stainless-steel kitchen, watching Norbert Niederkofler's 16 chefs calmly creating, without an F-word to turn the air blue.


The great man, an enthusiastic cyclist and mountain walker, as well as champion cook, came to meet us, friendly and relaxed and showing no sign of star-nerves, although the restaurant was, as always, full. The main course, in tribute to St Hubert, patron saint of hunting, consisted of two perfect cylinders of tender venison, pink and delicious, the ideal pick-me-up after a hard day on the mountain, or in our case, in the cable car.

Another day, we played golf on the hilly nine-hole course near Corvara, altitude just over 5,000 ft. They say the ball goes further at altitude, the air being thinner, although I must admit it did not seem to make much difference to me, despite the luxury of having a golf cart.

The last time that I played at altitude, on Lord Curzon's course near Shimla, 7,000ft up in the Himalayas, I walked and it nearly killed me.

On our last day, with the sun blazing, we took the chair lift from Badia over the pines to the foot of the mountain which towers over the church of Santa Croce, built in 1484. In the spirit of pilgrimage, we walked up the last steep, stony bit of the road, flanked by the last half-dozen of the 14 Stations of the Cross.

Santa Croce is known locally as Il Voto, the Wish, from an ancient belief that the petitions the devout hang on the walls - usually for the birth of a child, or the cure of some ailment - will be answered.

Miraculous responses -here were several silver legs on the wall - are also recorded. One, written in the local Tyrolean patois, tells the story of a seven-year-old boy, Dominik Faber, who swallowed a sewing needle.

Five days later, with the local doctor at a loss and the family in despair, the prayed-for miracle occurred: the needle safely transited Dominik's insides without piercing him and re-emerged to general jubilation.

Travel facts
Stay seven nights' B&B at Rosa Alpina from £3,100 (00 39 0471 849 500, rosalpina.com). Rosa Alpina closes on September 19 and reopens for winter on December 3. BA flies from London to Venice (where the hotel will send a car to meet you) from £160 return (0844 493 0787, ba.com)


source :dailymail