Τα 20 κορυφαία ορεινά περάσματα στην Βιτσέντσα

Road to the Rifugio Achille Papa. This is where you walk down if you're doing a circular hike with the 52 tunnels.

Road to the Rifugio Achille Papa. This is where you walk down if you're doing a circular hike with the 52 tunnels.

The first plans for the construction of a refuge on Pasubio date back to 1907. However, they were not realized until after the First World War, when the Schio section of the CAI began to build a refuge in memory of the soldiers who had fallen on Pasubio. Source: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rifugio_Achille_Papa

This large concrete tank pumps water from the springs of the Oliero Caves, thanks to an aqueduct that exceeds 1000m of altitude, and then distributes it throughout the Asiago Plateau: up here in fact the territory is karst, so it does not retain the water that flows downstream through underground passages... practically the same water from rain and snow that naturally flows from the summit, is artificially made to rise out of necessity! The current aqueduct and tank were built on the traces of a system already built during the First World War, to overcome the primary problem of water supply to the Plateau, which presented itself in all its gravity during the conflict, both due to the exponential growth in the number of men present at altitude, and due to the dispute over the few springs by the opposing adversaries. Considered by many to be a horrible structure, for me it is a suggestive, totally detached brutalist architecture, positioned in a natural and uncontaminated environment: a fascinating contrast!

Col d'Asiago offers a beautiful and privileged panoramic point on the underlying Canale del Brenta, or the narrow and deep terminal part of Valsugana. But the view extends over the Asiago Plateau and the entire skyline of mountains that border it to the north, the Grappa Massif to the east and the mouth of Val Brenta. In the distance, the Piccole Dolomiti, the Pale di San Martino and the Vette Feltrine. Precisely because of its strategic position, during the First World War it was a strongly armed Italian defensive bastion and decisive in various phases of the conflict. The peak is also known locally by the ancient and dialect toponym 'Col del S-ciavo', dating back to the time of the Serenissima: on the slopes of the hill in fact the 'schiavoni' (i.e. the non-Latin inhabitants of the dominions of Dalmatia and the Venetian hinterland) cut wood for the naval fleet; the trunks (especially beech trees) were lowered down the valley through the famous and nearby Calà del Sasso; they were then loaded onto rafts that went down the entire Brenta, until they reached the lagoon and the Arsenale of Venice. A large concrete cistern dominates the summit, collecting the water pumped from the Oliero Caves, 1000m further downstream, and distributing it to the Plateau.

The Passo della Camonda shrine is in effect a refuge used by merchants and wayfarers who traveled from the Agno Valley to the Leogra Valley. The pass was also one of the strongholds of the Italian defensive line during the First World War.

Camonda Pass route leading to Busellati district

Named after General Achille Papa, Gold Medal for military valor who died during the First World War in 1917, the refuge is located at the saddle of the Porte del Pasubio, at 1,928 meters above sea level, on the massif of the same name. Today the Papa refuge is owned by the CAI of Schio and boasts around sixty beds.