Strada delle 52 Gallerie

The Road Through Rock, War, and Time - Strada delle 52 Gallerie

High on Mount Pasubio in Northern Italy winds the breathtaking Strada delle 52 Gallerie — the Road of 52 Tunnels. Built in 1917 during World War I, this mountain trail carved into solid rock stands as a monument to human endurance and the quiet transformation of war into peace. Join me as we walk through history, light, and silence.

On the slopes of Mount Pasubio, between the valleys of Posina and Vallarsa in Italy’s Veneto region, winds a narrow stone road just over six kilometers long.
Today, it is walked by hikers, tourists, and history enthusiasts — but more than a century ago, it was crossed by men who carried war on their backs — quite literally.

Its name is Strada delle 52 Gallerie — the Road of 52 Tunnels — and although today it looks like a fairytale mountain trail, it was born out of desperation, in the spring of 1917, in the midst of the First World War.

🔹 The Mountain That Became a Frontline

Monte Pasubio was then the border between Italy and Austria-Hungary.
When Italy declared war in 1915, the entire northern border turned into a high-altitude front — unique in world history.
Armies fought on peaks, glaciers, and cliffs, and Pasubio was a strategic key, controlling the valleys leading toward Vicenza and Padua.

Whoever holds Pasubio, sees everything.
That’s why both sides — Italians and Austrians — dug in on its slopes and fought a trench war for years, at nearly 2,000 meters above sea level.

🔹 Why a Road Through the Rock

There were no roads on the mountain.
All supplies — food, ammunition, the wounded — had to pass along exposed paths easily targeted by the enemy.
So Italian military engineers decided to carve a hidden road inside the mountain itself, allowing supplies to move safely, even at night.

Thus was born the idea of Strada delle 52 Gallerie — a route connecting Bocchetta Campiglia (1,216 m) and Porte del Pasubio (1,928 m), with a total elevation gain of about 750 meters.
The road is 6.5 kilometers long, 2.3 of which run through 52 numbered tunnels.
The longest, Tunnel No. 19, winds more than 300 meters through the rock like a snail’s shell.

🔹 A Construction Born of Desperation

Construction began in March 1917 and was completed that December — just 10 months later, without heavy machinery.
Everything was done by hand, with dynamite, pickaxes, and candles.
The builders were military miners and engineers — often men from southern Italy who had never seen snow before, now digging through frozen rock under shellfire.

The road was narrow and steep — wide enough only for a man and a mule.
No carts, no horses could pass.
Mules carried ammunition, food, and the wounded; when the terrain became too dangerous, men carried everything on their own backs.

🔹 Battles — But Not on the Road

Interestingly, no battle was ever fought on the Strada itself.
It lay hidden behind the front line, in the logistics and supply zone.
The real fighting took place at the top of Pasubio, at positions known as Dente Italiano and Dente Austriaco — the “Italian” and “Austrian Tooth.”

There, the trenches were only a hundred meters apart.
The war turned underground: both sides dug tunnels to plant mines and collapse enemy positions.
The largest explosion occurred on August 2, 1917, when an Austrian mine killed over 200 Italian soldiers in an instant.
Since then, the summit of the mountain has never looked the same — it was literally blown apart from within.

🔹 “The Sacred Mountain” and the Forgotten Truth

When the war ended in 1918, Pasubio had already become a symbol of Italian sacrifice.
It’s estimated that over 10,000 men died on its slopes.
The Italians declared it the Sacra Montagna — the Sacred Mountain — and Strada delle 52 Gallerie became part of a national myth of bravery and patriotism.

But the truth is quieter, and darker.
It was not a “heroic” road, but a road of survival.
It didn’t lead to battle — it led away from death, while others were dying above.
Every tunnel was an attempt to avoid the enemy’s gaze — and the bullet that asks no questions.

🔹 After the War: When the Mountain Got Its Fairytale Back

Today, as you walk the path and emerge from a tunnel into the light, it’s hard not to feel a mix of awe and sadness.
At the end of the route, near Rifugio Achille Papa, you can see the “normal road” — Strada degli Scarubbi, built later, in the 1920s, to make the mountain accessible to vehicles.
During the war, it didn’t exist.
For the soldiers of 1917, the only way to the top was the one they carved themselves.

🔹 Today — When Silence Speaks Louder

Today, Strada delle 52 Gallerie is a popular hiking route, but above all, it stands as a monument to human endurance.
Hikers carry lamps — yet beneath every beam of light still lives the darkness of those who once dug there without a choice.
Where war once thundered, now there is only the sound of footsteps, dripping water, and the wind echoing through stone.