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Werk Gschwent -
Fort Belvedere |
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The
History The Description
The Armament The
Visit Direction
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The
History |
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Overall View of Fort of 1918 |
The
Fort, which is within 2 km of Lavarone Cappella hamlet, was built between
1908 and 1914 and is the only one of the seven Fortresses, collectively
knows as the iron belt of the Highlands, to survive and retain its
original form and structure. The road leading to the Fort has been
dedicated by the Municipality of Lavarone, to the Tirolers Kaiserjäger,
in their memory and to the memory of the 40% of “Trentini”, who formed
their troops. Together with the Fort of Cherle or Werk S. Sebastiano, it
strategically controlled the “Val d’Astico” and like its competitor,
the Italian Fort of Campomolón, at 1.853 m, it overhung from exactly the
opposite side of the valley.
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Moment of life in the Fort. |
The
motto of the Fort was: "For Trento I am enough". Because of its
defensive capabilities and the impossibility to conquer it with a frontal
attack, the saying meant that the Fort alone would have been enough to
defend the city from the Italian threat.
Built on a rocky buttress of the peak on the Val d'Astico it was built in
the middle of the defensive line of the highlands, which include the Fort
of Spitz Vezzena, Fort Verle and Fort Campo of Luserna to the east, and
Fort Cherle, Sommo Alto and Dosso delle Somme to the West. Of the various
Forts, it was also the nearest to the Italian lines being located on a
peak high above the counties of the “Vicentino”, close to the
Italian-Austrian border.
The Fort and the whole zone were subjected to a heavy bombardment from the
Italian Fort Campomolón from May 28th to June 11th
1915.
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View from one window of the Fort. |
Is the only Fort of the Highlands that has not suffered
the demolition to recover the iron, which was necessary to Italy in the
autarchy era. For this, thanks are due to the intervention of the podestà
of the epoch Cav. Quarto Stenghele who with the King Vittorio Emanuele III°
and the head of the Italian Government Mr. Mussolini, having visited it in
1935, decided to leave it intact to the memory of those tragic times.
Seeing it in good condition and only partially damaged by the work of the
iron recovery, they decided not to give it the same fate like all the
others, by reducing it to rubble with the explosive to extract the
precious steel beams (putrelles). |
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Entry view of the Fort. |
Other
Forts, like those of the Dosso delle Somme, which survived almost intact
from the repeated Italian bombardments, were irredeemably destroyed for
the recovery of the steel parts.
The family of Osele Vittorio acquired the Fort from the Municipality of Lavarone in 1964 and having cleaned it up and installed some pumps to remove the infiltrated waters, then
proceeded to install illumination and after some time it was transformed in a museum with an interesting collection of military finds, photos of the era, military and topographical
papers, etc. In
1996 the family decide to sell it to the Municipality of Lavarone, who
continued with the management of the museum and in the search of new finds
for its enrichment. In 1998 the Municipality provided new electrical
installations accordance with the latest standards. |
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Internal view of the Fort. |
In
the spring of 2.000, with the help of the Autonomous Province of Trento,
the work was begun for the complete refurbishment of the waterproofing for
the roof of the principal building, as well as other important inside
renovations and consolidations.
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View of the Fort Belvedere and Astico
Valley.
Copyright © 1998 Foto Ducia ZT Gmbh |
Today,
the Foundation Werk Gschwent, named after the Fort, is fully operational
with the participation of the association of the Tiroler Kaiserjägerbund
of Innsbruck and the Municipality of Lavarone. The purpose of the
Foundation is the development and the management of the Fort and all its
activities, as well as the promotion of friendship between the Italian and
the Tyrolean people. The Foundation has the support from the group of the
Kaiserjägers of Lavarone establish in 1996 and which today numbers around
60 subscribers.
Officers
within this group include: -
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The Commander Gianpietro Per. Ind. Bertoldi.
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The
ex Mayor of Lavarone Carlo Rag. Marchesi.
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The Mayor
of Folgaria Alessandro Avv. Olivi.
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The Fort Werk-Gschwent, was the only one of the seven
Fortresses, that constituted the iron belt of the Highlands, built by the
order of the Field-Marshall Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf the States
Greatest Austrian, that had the fortune to be saved and is a fine example
of the historical memory of that period. This is shown from the interest
of the Italian and foreigners historians, and from the large numbers of
tourists, of which a high percentage are Austrian, German and Dutch and
they take the climb to Lavarone on to visit it (in 1999 it numbered 45.000
visitors). |
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