Fort Hensel used to be one of the most important structures of the Austro-Hungarian defense system; it was built on the Tschalawài cape in 1809, near the village of Malborghetto. It was designed by engineer Captain Friedrich Hensel during the Napoleonic era, as French troops were moving back through the Friulian valleys to the northern border. The two armies clashed on May 15 of the same year and the fort was occupied by French troops for two years.
At the end of the Napoleonic period, the fortress was restored in the middle of the warring century and again in 1884, when the Kingdom of Italy had to keep an eye on the border. The building was restored, modernized and converted into a major fortress capable of 18 guns and a 360-degree defense package. It was named Hensel for its attachment, died defending it in May 1809. It remained inactive for 30 years, then was reactivated during the Great War, garrisoning 21 officers and 567 soldiers.
The fortress was formed by two buildings 50 meters apart: the first, higher up, would house a barracks, two howitzer batteries and a two-storey bastion with four guns, while the second building consisted of two towers connected by a battery with a total of eight guns. Being equipped with good guns and also accommodating lower caliber guns, Fort Hensel became one of the main targets of the Italian artillery from the tops of the Dogna Valley, along the former frontier. More than two thousand high-caliber shells were fired in the summer of 1915 alone, while about 4,500 shells were counted during the war, destroying the fortress in a heap of rubble.

Today, among the dense growth of the cape, we can still see the ruins of such buildings. The visit starts from the small parking lot on the SS13 road, past the village of Malborghetto. The monument of the "Hensel Lion" is clearly visible on the rock face of the cape.
If you climb all the way up you can see the gun emplacements, from where you can carefully descend and visit some of the tunnels and chambers.

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Elevation 830 m

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Location: Malborghetto Valbruna, Udine, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy

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Fort Hensel

1. Church of Malborghetto – Fort Hensel loop from Malborghetto

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