The "Parco della Pace" is actually an Austro-Hungarian logistics base from the First World War. In the years leading up to the conflict, the Imperial Corps of Engineers had planned the construction of an impregnable fort on the summit of Mount Zugna, to serve both defense and attack purposes, controlling the Vallarsa and Vallagarina valleys, and the borders with the Kingdom of Italy. The design on paper called for a concrete casemate on the sheltered terrace beneath the summit, connected by tunnels and elevators to four revolving armored domes on the summit, armed with 15 cm guns with a range of approximately 22 km. Additional cannons in caves, machine gun emplacements, searchlights, and an observation dome were also planned. Only the armored domes would emerge from the ground.
This military settlement, on a clearing at the foot of the summit, was built specifically in preparation for and to support the construction site. But excavations for the fortification were immediately interrupted due to other priorities (including financial ones) and the shifting of the front with the outbreak of war: thus, the fort was never built. When the Austro-Hungarians tactically retreated to Rovereto in 1915, the buildings were occupied and used by the Italians until the end of the war.
The site included, in addition to the specially constructed military road from the Monte Zugna Refuge: • the officers' quarters; • a rainwater collection basin, with purification filters and three storage tanks; • the barracks for the troops, which could accommodate 600 men; • the two-story barracks (the building with the staircase), capable of holding approximately 300 soldiers; • opposite it, there was a small infirmary made of zinc sheeting that could hold eight patients; • a shelter/storage area in a cave.
Translated by Google •
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