Mario Peghini’s ITINERARI AL FRONTE SUI SENTIERI DELLA GRANDE GUERRA

ITINERARI AL FRONTE SUI SENTIERI DELLA GRANDE GUERRA…

How I wish that all those who like to visit the regions of Trentino, Lombardia [Lombardy], Alto Adige [South Tirol], Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia  were able to read in Italian Mario Peghini’s hiking, biking, walking guide – a guide which not only takes us WWI and mountain places but also describes how war can be utterly insane.

Forte Strino between Vermiglio and Passo Tonale

From one chain of mountains with ice peaks through hidden tunnels and rocks, to valleys, villages, war museums, forts, alpine lakes, this author leads us, simply and humbly, where few important historians specialized in World War I probably ever went. Mario takes the reader to places where battles were fought between Italians and Austrians and allows an experience of sites which many never knew existed. His guide shows us with black and white and color photographs of past and present where battles were fought, where “men and mice” waited to be freed from nightmares; where people defended themselves from enemies or became enemies themselves while many wanted to live in peace but had to move to avoid death or deportation. 272 pages with photographs, 70 itineraries with indications on where to start out, on where to take breaks, on the history of the sites besides indication of altitude and whether to reach these sites walking, biking o with the help of mountain gear – for serious Alpine mountain lovers and WWI or Italian and Austrian history buffs (Edizioni Vividolomiti, Collana Mpountain Geographic Euros 24,50; 9 788899 106041).

Daily life of an Austrian soldier in the so called Eissenstadt – the city of ice