The Road of the 52 tunnels - Photographic trekking on a military mule track built during the First World War on the Pasubio massif, in north-eastern Italy - part 1

Last Saturday, when I woke up, I did not imagine that a few hours later I would walk in such a special place.

After breakfast my brother calls me:

-Hello Ale, let's go on an excursion? I want to go walking!
Me: Of course!

After 10 minutes I am reminded of an area I had never seen before.
On Monte Pasubio in the province of Vicenza there is a very famous road built during the First World War.

It is called the Road of the 52 tunnels.

In this map it is marked in red.

I immediately call my brother and tell him:
Me: Hurry up and come here! I know where to go, but it will be a bit challenging!
Riccardo: No problem!

My brother was in Mestre, in the province of Venice, he would arrive after an hour, so I started preparing backpacks and supplies...
While I was preparing the sandwiches, my parents decided to come too.
They would not have made the excursion, in fact they relaxed in the valley.

Once my brother reached us at the starting point, we left with my car and after 2 hours we arrived at the Malga Xomo where we started the trek.

Greeted our parents we took the path 366, we were at 1058 meters altitude...

The first stretch was on a paved road. The path was uphill and the surrounding landscape became more beautiful with every step we took.

I did not expect it, the trek is famous, but we did not meet anyone in the first part.

In this photo we can see the road we had traveled... a constant slope.

Finally we arrived at the beginning of the Road of the 52 tunnels...
That's why we had not met people, they had all parked the car here!

The monumental entrance makes us understand the importance of this route.
I have never seen such an imposing structure to indicate an excursion!

Riccardo goes first and makes his way.
The day is beautiful, let's start!

After a few meters we glimpse the first gallery and there is this educational sign that illustrates the names of the galleries that are dedicated to the military who have carried out actions of particular importance during the First World War.

Here is the first gallery... there are still 51 to walk!

The road is a real masterpiece of military engineering, considering also the conditions and the era in which it was built, as well as the speed of execution: the works began on 6 February 1917 and were completed in November 1917!
It was built by the 33rd Mining Company of the 5th regiment of the Italian Army's Army Corps, with the help of six hundred workers: company 349, 523, 621, 630, 765 and 776.
Lieutenant Giuseppe Zappa was placed at the head of the 33rd Company, from 18 January to 22 April 1917; he was succeeded by Captain Corrado Picone until the end of the war.

In the early days of December 1917, before leaving the Pasubio, the 33rd Mining Company symbolically inaugurated the road, knocking down a wall built specifically in front of the first gallery.
It will be the 25th Mining Company, together with the remaining centuries, to complete the road, including the tunnels 49 and 50, and ultimately to open it.

The galleries are spacious, you can walk straight and are on some bent lightly.

Here are some photos taken during construction ...
As I went up the galleries, I wondered how they managed to realize them... incredible!

At one point we heard people talking and we met a group of 30 people who climbed calmly ...
We decided to overcome them, they disturbed too much...

The route is quite tiring, it's all uphill. The average slope is 12%, the maximum slope is 20%.
The surrounding landscape seems more and more distant...

It is spectacular to walk in the dark, light up with the torch and exit the gallery at a higher altitude with an incredible panorama every time.

Often there are openings that offer incredible views.
I read that if the day is particularly beautiful, you can see the Venetian lagoon!!!

Here's a short video as we exit a gallery...

Look at that suggestive place.
Riccardo enters the gallery...

...and here is Riccardo coming out of the other side...

At the beginning of each gallery there is a plate with the progressive number written.
We were only at the fourteenth gallery!! :D

I took this photo where my brother was when I photographed him while he was leaving the gallery.

On average, the galleries are 20 to 35 meters long ... the longest is 320 meters and it is incredible ... I will show you in the second part of the trek, in the next post!

We leave the gallery and the surrounding landscape surprises us again.
In the picture you can see the parking where there is the entrance to the excursion.
Tiredness made itself felt. It was 2:00 pm and we still had to eat.
We were waiting to find a larger area to sit down to rest but it was not there... we had to keep walking...

We did not know at the time but we were about to reach the most beautiful stretch of the excursion.
I decided to split the photographic excursion into two parts because otherwise the post would have become too long.

I hope you enjoy the post, the best part is yet to come!

If you appreciate this kind of photographic excursions let me know.

I wish you all a good day!