Strada delle 52 Gallerie

Strada delle 52 Gallerie
Strada delle 52 Gallerie
Length	6.5 km (4.0 mi)
Trailheads	Bocchetta Campiglia (1.216 m) ; Porte del Pasubio (1.928 m);
Use	Hiking
Elevation change	750 m (2,460 ft)
Highest point	the end of 47th tunnel, 2,000 m (6,600 ft)
Lowest point	Bocchetta Campiglia, 1,216 m (3,990 ft)
Grade	22 %
Season	summer
Surface	rock
Right of way	military mule

Road of 52 Tunnels, Road of the first Army
Road of 52 Tunnels, Road of the first Army
Strada delle 52 gallerie, Strada della Prima Armata
	Road of 52 Tunnels
	Road of 52 Tunnels, Road of the first Army
Coordinates	45°46′44″N 11°13′41″E / 45.779°N 11.228°E
Type	military mule
Site information
Controlled by	Kingdom of Italy
Open to; the public	yes
Site history
Built	February 6, 1917
Built by	Kingdom of Italy
In use	Kingdom of Italy
Battles/wars	World War I

The Strada delle 52 Gallerie ("Road of 52 tunnels"), also known as the 52 Tunnel Road, or Strada della Prima Armata ("Road of the First Army") is a military mule road built during World War I on the Pasubio massif in Veneto, Italy.

The road winds between Bocchetta Campiglia (1,216 metres [3,990 ft]) ^[1] and the Porte del Pasubio (1,934 metres [6,345 ft]) ^[2] crossing the southern slope of the mountain with its spires, deep canyons and sheer rock faces, outside of the range of Austro-Hungarian artillery.

Features

It is 6,555 metres (21,506 ft) long, of which 2,335 metres (7,661 ft)^[3] are divided into 52 tunnels excavated from the rock, each tunnel is numbered and characterized by a particular name. The minimum width of 2.20 metres (7.2 ft) was originally intended to allow the transit of two mules with their baggage. ^[4] The slope of the road reaches 22 percent, with an average of 12 percent.^[4] Notable among the many tunnels is the 19th because, in addition to being the longest (320 metres (1,050 ft)), it has a helical layout with 4 hairpin bends, inside a gigantic rock tower.^[5]

The Tunnel 20 is carved out of a rock tower, and to overcome the difference in height, twists around itself like a corkscrew. Tunnels 41 through 45 run below the Passo Fontana d'oro (1,875 metres [6,152 ft]). On leaving the 47th, the highest point of the road (2,000 metres [6,562 ft]), there is a magnificent panorama.^{[peacock prose]}

Completion

A masterpiece of military engineering and boldness (it was produced by the 33rd Miners Company of the Italian Army with the help of six hundred workers), considering the conditions and the time it was built, and the speed of execution. Work began on February 6, 1917, and was completed in November 1917.

Its implementation was of great strategic importance because it allowed communication and transfer of supplies from the base to the summit area of Mt. Pasubio. Key aspects of the road include year round access, located outside of enemy artillery range and accessible by mule. These were all problems with the similar road of Scarubbi which is only accessible with motorized vehicles, within the range of the Austro-Hungarian guns, and only during the summer.

Mountain biking is strictly prohibited due to a number of fatal accidents.

Order of tunnel	Name of tunnel	Length of tunnel
1	Cap. Zappa	17 metres
2	Gen. D'Havet	65 metres
3	Rovereto	14 metres
4	Battisti	31 metres
5	Oberdan	10 metres
6	Trieste	17 metres
7	Gen. Cascino	35 metres
8	Gen. Cantore	23 metres
9	Gen. Zoppi	78 metres
10	Sauro	12 metres
11	Magg. Randaccio	28 metres
12	Cap. Motti	95 metres
13	Cap. Filzi	27 metres
14	Cap. Melchiori	61 metres
15	Tortona	45 metres
16	Reggio Calabria	74 metres
17	Bergamo	52 metres
18	Parma	46 metres
19	Re (Victor Emmanuel III of Italy)	318 metres
20	Gen. Cadorna	86 metres
21	Gen. Porro	20 metres
22	Breganze	8 metres
23	Gen. Capello	18 metres

Order of tunnel	Name of tunnel	Length of tunnel
24	Bologna	16 metres
25	Aquila	11 metres
26	Napoli	24 metres
27	Cap. Picone	98 metres
28	Genoa	14 metres
29	Spezia	31 metres
30	Miss	10 metres
31	Gen. Papa	72 metres
32	Palazzolo	48 metres
33	33ª minatori	57 metres
34	Gen. Giustetti	132 metres
35	Trani	10 metres
36	Gen. Garibaldi	12 metres
37	Balilla	26 metres
38	Turin	29 metres
39	Mantua	53 metres
40	Trento	10 metres
41	26ª minatori	24 metres
42	Macerata	19 metres
43	Polesine	55 metres
44	Zappatori Liguria	22 metres
45	Plotone 25ª minatori	83 metres
46	Piceno	65 metres
47	Pallanza	22 metres
48	Cesena	14 metres
49	Soldato italiano	19 metres
50	Cav. Vittorio Veneto	27 metres
51	Plotone minatori sardo	66 metres
52	Sardinia	86 metres

References

Notes

^ ^a ^b (Gattera 2007, p. 27).
^ ^a ^b (Gattera 2007, p. 38).
^ (Gattera 2007, p. 100-109)length of the galleries is obtained by adding the lengths of the individual galleries mentioned in the book
^ ^a ^b (Gattera 2007, p. 78) taken from the technical report of Captain Corrado Picone.
^ (Gattera 2007, p. 30).

Cartography

(in Italian) "Sentieri Pasubio e Carega-foglio Nord" 1:20.000 Sezioni vicentine del CAI
(in Italian) Sentieri della val di Posina, edito dalla Provincia di Vicenza, assessorato al turismo 26 April 2013
Kompass – carte, ed. (2003). Carta turistica 1:50000 n.101 – Rovereto M.Pasubio (in Italian). ISBN 9783854911036.

Bibliography

Claudio Gattera (2007). Gino Rossato Editore (ed.). Il pasubio e la strada delle 52 gallerie (in Italian). ISBN 978-88-8130-017-4.

External links

(in Italian) Strada delle 52 gallerie
(in Italian) Strada delle 52 gallerie Itinerario
(in German) Bericht über die Strada delle 52 Galerie im Explorermagazin

[gatpag27-1] (Gattera 2007, p. 27).

[gatpag38-2] (Gattera 2007, p. 38).

[3] (Gattera 2007, p. 100-109)length of the galleries is obtained by adding the lengths of the individual galleries mentioned in the book

[relpicone-4] (Gattera 2007, p. 78) taken from the technical report of Captain Corrado Picone.

[gatpag30-5] (Gattera 2007, p. 30).

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]