Top 5 Caves サモーネでの

Very steep section that leads to the top of Ortigara, it is useful to have a headlamp with you

The tunnel was initially an Austro-Hungarian machine gun emplacement (2093 m), designed to defend the overlooking 2101 m of Mount Ortigara. It was later captured by the Alpine troops during the first attack on June 10, 1917, becoming the headquarters of the Italian command of Colonel Pietro Biancardi, from whom it takes its current name. A must-see on the trail connecting the summit of Mount Ortigara to the Agnella Pass: fascinating, steep, and facilitated by steps and ropes. The imperial emplacements are accessed by descending into a shaft using metal supports (technical descent, only for experts).

During the First World War, in view of the Battle of Ortigara in 1917, the area on the eastern slopes of Cima Caldiera was transformed into an Italian logistics base of enormous tactical importance: one of the main storage centers for food, ammunition, tools and materials needed for combat and the sustenance of the troops. It was located on the slope sheltered from enemy fire, but close to the front line, to which it was connected by a web of walkways; it was accessible via a wide and comfortable road from Piazzale Lozze, which is now used as a path; the six tunnels dug one after the other, connected internally by a single corridor, served as warehouses and were hidden from view by external wooden barracks that, leaning against the rock, covered the entrances. Two interesting tables show the inventory of the goods stored: food for the soldiers, daily rations and materials for the Engineers.

Trenches along the path that leads to Cima Caldiera. They are part of the Eco Museum of the Great War. The trenches and the excavated cavities served as warehouses for supplies for the troops of Ortigara.

Deep karst chasm a few steps from the path that goes up to Cima Dodici: on the perpetually shaded bottom, the snow resists even in summer. The entire area is a harsh and evocative environment with strong and typical karst characteristics: sinkholes, fissures, bushes, furrowed fields.

The Ice Hole ('Busa del Giàso' in Venetian dialect) is a deep natural cavity of karst origin, permanently frozen inside: for this reason, during the First World War, the Slovenians of the 17th regiment of the Austro-Hungarian army, stationed here, used it as a warehouse to store food supplies, sheltered from enemy fire. The initial part of the steep staircase dug into the rock to descend has survived, but then it abruptly stops: the cave can only be entered if equipped as a speleologist!

Spectacular and enormous sinkhole of karst origin that swallows up a good portion of woodland: it is a large collapse sinkhole, bordered on three sides by vertical rock walls. You pass by it and you wouldn't even notice it, if there wasn't a sign indicating it! I found this anecdote online: 'you can see a large natural sinkhole and here was the hiding place of young Austrian draft dodgers during the Risorgimento, when the entire territory was under the dominion of the Austrian Empire'... does the name refer to those (forty) people?