More info
City of ice
The Marmolada glacier in the Dolomites has become famous, notwithstanding its small size, due to a historical fact, that pointed out its rather particular anthropical use. During World War I, the area of the Marmolada was a battlefield for Italian Alpini units and Austrian troops. The latter needed to bring supplies to the soldiers in the higher positions avoiding the Italian artillery, so they dug over 8 km of galleries in the glacier, building what historians called the “City of Ice”. An entire battalion could live within, and it was provided with windows for air supply and ventilation pits over 60 m high. Inside it had lodging quarters and shooting positions, and port for a cannon positioned at 3,260 m. The galleries have now disappeared, crushed by the weight of the ice, but every year the glacier gives back relics and remnants of the war, reminders of the sacrifice of many men.
