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Tales of WarPathways to peaceA project promoting trails through key sites from the First World War in Central Friuli

Comune di Dignano

SPILIMBERGO

2012

Comune di Spilimbergo

LA REGIONE ONORA LA MEMORIA E PROMUOVE LA CONOSCENZA

Pagine di guerraSentieri di pace

Alfredo Calzolari Morelli and the Unknown Austro-Germanic Soldiers

The small cemetery of Gradisca contains among its tombs the remains of the young infantryman Alfredo Calzolari Morelli, fallen at the age of 25 while defending the bridge between Garcia and Bonzicco, during the Battle of Tagliamento in autumn 1917.A memorial stone, recently restored and relocated outside the cemetery Chapel, perpetuates the memory of that soldier born in Poggibonsi, in the province of Sie-na, on June 29, 1892. Enlisted to defend the Homeland, he first served as a health officer in the trenches of Trentino and Car-so, as part of the Lario Brigade consisting of two regiments: the 233rd and 234th.The retreat from Caporetto would sur-prise the Brigade, commanded by Major General Luigi Ciconetti, between Ariis and Torsa in the lower Friuli region. On October 27, the two regiments reached Codroipo and, the following day, Spilim-bergo. On October 29, the “Lario” de-ployed the 234th regiment to Forgaria to defend the Cornino and Pinzano bridge, and the 233rd to Gradisca sul Tagliamen-to, in defence of the Bonzicco bridge. General Ciconetti had set up his command office in a dwelling in Gradisca (suppos-edly the “Palassàt dai Isola”). The Com-mander was a brisk mannered man with a decisive temperament; he wore his hel-met at all times and carried a big club in his hands; he was “a man who typically ate bread and onions and did not sleep, nor did he allow others to sleep”. Never-theless, he was proud of its foot soldiers “stationed behind the embankment of a channel between the clumps of hazelnut trees. Under the lashing of the water that flooded the land, they stood still and si-lent, covered in soaked mantles, their hel-mets dripping, glancing along the river bed where the enemy could appear at any mo-ment. The general presented them one by one with the greatest praise, giving one a friendly slap, telling a joke to another, and they replied cheerfully to the jest”. Among those trenches in the Gradisca

countryside, hunched infantryman Calzolari Morelli, with eyes and ears sharp, scruti-nising the opposite slope on which, since the dawn of October 30, the enemy van-guards had made their appearance. The “Lario” infantrymen held their as-signed position for seven days, deployed along the River from Gradisca to Cosa, and thanks also to their strength, demonstrat-ed during those days of bleak decay, the Italian army was able to fall back beyond Piave and prepare its first line of defence. The order to retreat was given on Novem-ber 4, by which time the situation had got-ten out of control. And it was on that day that the young infantryman was hit in the head by an Austrian grenade. Provided with first aid at the “First aid sta-tion” set up on the premises of the Gradis-ca dairy, the young man died soon after. Recent research into the archives made it possible to collect the annotation made on February 25, 1920 by the parish priest Don Giuseppe Santarossa: “yesterday the 24th [of February] the bodies of those fall-en in October and November 1917 were brought to this cemetery. 15 German and one Austrian solder were buried in a com-mon grave (using a coffin – side avenue).To the left of the mortuary cell in a coffin the remains of 5 Italian soldiers of the 233rd infantry were laid to rest. Nearby also to the left in a coffin, the remains of another soldier fallen on the road leading to Spilim-bergo were laid [...]”.The bodies of the Italian soldiers were transferred on August 25, 1933 to the Os-suary Temple in Udine, the construction of which saw the contribution of local work-ers directed by master Giuseppe Castel-lan (Bepo Ciastellàn), while the remains of Austrian soldier Ios Duorsak and of 5 Ger-man airmen, who died on 2.11.1917, rest in the area dedicated to them indicated by the two memorial stones that represent, for every resident, a place to stop for a prayer and a fond memory to the victims of all the wars.

The cemetery chapel

Graves of Italian soldiers

The bridge seen from Gradisca

Photo: Franco Rota CollectionProject coordination: Local tourist board, town of Spilimbergo

Graphic design: Interattiva, SpilimbergoTranslations: Lexilab, Pordenone

May 2017


Comune di Dignano

SPILIMBERGO

2012




Anna Dianese, the Red Cross nurse from Spilimbergo

One of the “protagonists of good deeds” active in the city during the First World War, is Miss Anna Dianese, around which symbolically inter-twine the ideals, the dedication and the sense of duty that have long lingered in the female soul. Born in Spilimbergo on January 25, 1874 from parents Giuseppe and Maddalena Baldassi, she was raised in accordance with the best tradi-tions of the bourgeoisie of the time. As member of the Italian Red Cross Volunteer Nurses Unit, at the outbreak of the conflict she took an active part supporting any initiative sponsored by the Municipal Committee of civil preparation, caring for the children of soldiers, or of sick or wounded soldiers, in transit at the train station where the “Place of Solace” for which she worked operated. Tireless and dedi-cated to the various local initiatives, she devoted her free time to the sick patients at the hospital. She worked without rest. And it was so that the efforts of the volunteers did not pass unnoticed to the local populations, nor to the City Council which did not fail to ex-press their appreciation at the meeting held on April 7, 1916, accompanied by the unanimous acclaim directed at the “members of the associ-ation who dedicated themselves to the difficult task of attending to every train that arrival at the station, day and night, in order to be able to of-fer soldiers passing through drinks and food”. On July 10, 1917, Mayor Andrea Collesan award-ed the volunteers below with a Gold Medal, as a sign of admiration and gratitude on the part of citizens: Dianese Anna; Linzi Cherubina; Patrig-nani Lea; Guattacini Luisa; Guattacini Giorgina; Laurora Beatrice; Dusso Giulia; Antonietti Anna; Dusso Antonietta; Pognici Leni; Di Caporiacco Emma; Mongiat Lina; Frigimelica Maria; Mon-giat Maria; Lanfrit Vincenzo; Mongiat Arrigo; To-mat Gottardo.

A refugee in Reggio EmiliaOn October 30, 1917, at the first light of day, the first enemy patrols entered Dignano, Carpacco and Vidulis despite finding access across the Bonzicco bridge towards Gradisca interrupted due to the flooding of the river. The anxiety of those days, the fear of falling into enemy hands, the repeated bombardments from the opposite bank, drove many inhabitants from Spilimbergo to leave their homes and seek refuge in hospita-ble places across Italy. Among them, Red Cross nurse Anna Dianese, who found refuge in Reg-gio Emilia together with her family. Several hospitals were operational in that city,

served, among others, by the 9th hospital train that transported soldiers in need of care from the front lines to the city, entrusted to the Med-ical Colonel Pietro Spallanzani.

Among the nurses of the Cialdini Contingency HospitalAfter soon getting in contact with local Red Cross Inspector Maria Spallanzani Menada, Miss Dianese was accepted among the nurs-es on duty at the Cialdini Barracks, transformed into a contingency hospital (isolation facility) with 1200 beds. Here, soldiers suffering from conta-gious and infectious diseases such as smallpox, cerebrospinal meningitis, erysipelas, tuberculo-sis, typhoid, cholera and, even, leprosy, were admitted, conditions for which the medicine of the time could do very little. In fact, penicillin, the first antibiotic that would give rise to a new health era in the West, only became available in the early 1940s. It is easy, therefore, to imagine the dedication, courage and the ideals driving their daily com-mitment, supported by the maternal instinct that made them able to “humanise the cruel face of war”. While dedicating herself to caring for the sick, the Red Cross nurse from Spilimber-go contracted the Spanish Flu, which despite the name was brought to Europe by US troops, causing the deaths of more than 50 million peo-ple worldwide. Under the care of her elderly mother, she died in Reggio Emilia on August 15, 1918. Inspector Maria Spallanzani Menada mentions in her report on the role played by the volun-teer nurses from Reggio Emilia during the First World War, our compatriot Anna “Dianese refu-gee, (who) found in the great love for her work a strong comfort and relief to the nostalgia for her Friuli; she was outstanding in fulfilling her duties and a victim of her dedication”. On August 16, 1918, she was laid to rest in the “Cimitero Maggiore” in Reggio Emilia.

The following honours were granted in her mem-ory Silver Medal of merit, Italian Red Cross, March 1, 1922Silver Medal to the memory, Ministry of the Interior, General Directorate of Public Health, July 31, 1920Bronze Medal, Genoa Army Corps, March 15, 1920

Anna Dianese

Text: Daniele BisaroPhoto: Gianni Cesare BorghesanProject coordination: Local tourist board, town of Spilimbergo


May 2017


Comune di Dignano

SPILIMBERGO

2012




Don Vincenzo: the “Voce amica” of Barbeano

Don Vincenzo Muzzatti was born in Castelnovo del Friuli on March 19, 1884, from parents Giovan-ni and Maria Bassutti. He spent part of his child-hood with his uncle Don Antonio, parish priest of Barbeano, playing and spending time with other children the same age.After attending the Portogruaro Seminary, he was ordained priest in the Church of San Luigi dell’Isti-tuto on June 13, 1908 by Bishop Francesco Isola.He began his priestly ministry as chaplain in Cord-enons until August 1913; he then joined the parish of Barbeano, replacing his uncle, first as spiritual Bursar then as Pastor - parish priest of Santa Ma-ria Maddalena from April 5, 1914 to April 21, 1919. “He led the parish of Barbeano in the difficult years of the war, when many young men and many fam-ily men with whom he had shared many a card game had been sent to the front. Don Vincen-zo could not follow them in the cold and damp trenches, among the many dangers of the war, though he was spiritually close to them through prayer and a parish bulletin, drafted exclusively for the soldiers”.The Portogruaro Seminary Library, in the “Collec-tion of Parish Bulletins”, retains a number of is-sues of the “Voce amica”, the “publication” edit-ed by Don Vincenzo, handwritten, duplicated on a mimeograph machine and sent to his friends and parishioners deployed on several fronts. A much appreciated and anticipated initiative that speaks volumes about the figure of the priest who was “a small man physically, but (who) revealed an uncommon inner strength; he wore a worn cas-sock, made of “bigia” cloth, but clean and well ironed. He conversed amiably with relatives (the Rizzotti Nardins resulting from the wedding of his sister Paschina with Luigi) and with the many vil-lagers who still remembered him as the pastor of the difficult years, during the First World War”.His stay in Barbeano did not go unnoticed to mil-itary occupation authorities. In fact, on May 16, 1918 a letter was sent from the Imperial and Royal Command of the Field Marshal Boroevich Army Group, addressed to the Bishop of Concordia, Mgr. Francesco Isola, with which he was called upon to oversee and call to order the clergy in Spilimbergo, on pain of severe penalties. “The command of the Army Group communicates your archiepiscopal grace, that the pastor of Bar-beano D. Vincenzo Mosatti (Muzzatti), belonging to the Diocese of Portogruaro, was arrested in late April and handed over for military trial as he had in-stigated the population during a search of a house due to theft. According to a report prepared by the Spilimbergo District Command many such cases have been noted lately, in which military organs were involved and subsequently incited the popu-lation. On the occasion of an unofficial sitting the district authority provided the district clergy with the necessary clarifications regarding their duties

towards the imperial and the royal occupying au-thorities, and at the same time pointed to the spe-cial case of the parish priest of Barbeano, village where order was restored just after his arrest and removal.The district authority closed the report bringing to the attention of your archiepiscopal grace that such behaviour is blamed and forbidden even by the superior ecclesiastical authority, as a number of priests have attempted to follow the example of the parish priest of Barbeano.The Command of the Army Group therefore turns to your archiepiscopal grace with the urgent and decisive request to bring to the attention of the clergy of the district of Spilimbergo, using a mem-orandum, the serious consequences of such be-haviour, as well as your intent by virtue of the Archbishopric authority to take decisive action with regard to the clergy; so that these, are called upon to set a good example to the people, and to obey the provisions of higher authorities in order to fulfil their duties.The Command of the Army Group must make your archiepiscopal grace aware, that it absolutely shall not tolerate a challenging attitude of the clergy, following which, moreover the quiet population is instigated against the imperial and the royal occu-pying authorities and their provisions, which shall indeed be punished with maximum severity.It is finally requested to provide the Command of the Army Group with a copy of the relevant mem-orandum directed to the clergy. Field mail, this day of May 16, 1918.”Previously, on April 25, 1918, the Archpriest of Spilimbergo, Don Giovanni Giacomello, had backed the petition signed by the heads of the Barbeano family to the I.R. Command of Spilimbergo in fa-vour of their parish priest “accused of instigating the rebellion against the authority during a search in Barbeano in April 1918”. The Archpriest noted, with satisfaction, on the same: “the accused was then declared innocent by the Military Court of Vit-torio and set free”.In April 1919 Don Vincenzo was assigned to the parish of San Giorgio in Tagliamento, therefore in Pordenone, San Giovanni di Casarsa, Zoppola. He was appointed as Spiritual Director of the Dioce-san Seminary from 1930 to 1935 and later Rector of the Santuario delle Grazie in Pordenone from August 1932 to 1952, when he became Chaplain of the Pordenone Care Home on July 17, 1962, date on which he was admitted to the Clergy House of San Vito al Tagliamento, where he died on July 25, 1966. On June 19, 1959, Pope John XXIII appointed him his honorary chamberlain, in crimson gown, conferring upon him the title of Monsignor.

Don Vincenzo Muzzatti

The Church square, early 20th century

Altopiano di Asiago, 1918; second standing from right: Carmelo Tonello

Sources: F. Spagnolo, Barbeano. Vita di paese, Sequals, 1994. Diocese of Concordia archives - Pordenone, file. Muzzatti don VincenzoPhoto: Giovanni Giacomello Collection, Renato GregorisProject coordination: Local tourist board, town of Spilimbergo


May 2017


Comune di Dignano

SPILIMBERGO

2012




The days of The Battle of Caporetto

The Gradisca road is a torrent of people and things that pass continuously in front of the Command Lodge. Through the dirty window panes, I see refugees, soldiers, wagons, horses, oxen that parade without interruption towards Casarsa. There is however less con-fusion than on the routes on the bank, de-spite the gunfire which breaks out every few minutes in the neighbouring fields.General Castillo, standing in the doorway, like a policeman on guard, supervises the movement. From time to time he jumps in the middle of the road and stops the traffic. He stops a group of stragglers: Who you are?We are from this regiment.Where are you going?We are going to that collection camp. We are looking for our unit.(There are thousands of soldiers going from one village to another looking in vain for a col-lection camp that moves continuously, and those who have been walking for days and days, covering hundreds of kilometres look-ing for their unit that is nowhere to be found. They have become a sort of caricature. You find a poor devil, drunk, hungry, sleeping on a road in the middle of the plain, marching for nearly a week: - What are you doing here? - I’m looking for my unit).He stops a cyclist because he must leave his bicycle which is needed here, a truck be-cause it leaves behind a few cans of meat and some bread for the infantrymen of the brigade who have been doing without.Just recently, among others, at this impromp-tu checkpoint, a number of officers of those machine gunners who were with us at the bridgehead in Bonzicco passed by. Ques-tioned as well, they told that Colonel Ferigo and the others passed by here; even though in dribs and drabs, and losing a few weapons, which they had to give up in the engorge-ment of the Pinzano bridge.While the General was asking them ques-tions, a few grenades fell near us. With each detonation, one of them shook completely and paled shamefully. He earned a talking to.Waiting for Colonels Ferigo and Lorenzoni who could not delay coming here, I joined the Regiment Command where I ate last night.

[…] Crossing Gradisca on our way to the Bri-gade Command to say farewell, we were struck, Lorenzoni and I, by the loneliness and desolation that had remained behind. Not one person on the streets, except an old woman who we had seen in a doorway, watching us with suspicion. Some stray soldier who crossed the road with a tankard in his hand coming out of a cellar from which emerged a pungent smell of wine freely spilled on the ground.Three others who came from the direction of Tagliamento with shovels on their shoulders, grim and tired. One of these, seeing a pack of turkeys running and grumbling stupidly at his feet, set his eye on one, and with his shovel over his head, directed such a blow, that if it had not gotten out of the way, it would have made an omelette, as the shovel left a small shiny crater in the soft sand.The suddenness of the act and the dispro-portion between the means and the intent, made us laugh, after having rebuked the sol-dier.Outside the village, two old workmen stopped us to ask about the fate of their families. They had been working in Carnia, where they learned what was happening down here. They had rushed to come rescue their peo-ple, but they did not find anyone. They cried speaking of their wives, of their children.In a field on the side of the road, five or six horse carcasses who had died of fatigue lay half submerged in mud. Wide slices of meat had been cut with a knife and with a bayonet in the thighs of each horse, and the deep wounds were turning black and rotting in the sun. (Source: A. Soffici, La ritirata del Friuli, Vallec-chi Editore, 1919)

Gradisca. Via della Chiesa, Osteria Di Nando

Gradisca. Anti-aircraft self-propelled battery in town square

Soldiers marching on the Bonzicco bridge

Photo: Franco Rota Collection Project coordination: Local tourist board, town of Spilimbergo


May 2017


Comune di Dignano

SPILIMBERGO

2012




November 2, 1918The clash from the top of the Hangar of Istrago

“On November 1-2, the population of Istrago and of the neighbouring villages began to look for re-mains of timbers, tools that were left after the fires started by the Austrians in the surroundings of the Hangar and this work was attended to by hundreds of people with handcarts, wheelbarrows, etc. and we were helping people always hoping to see our soldiers arrive; there were no more Austrians in sight.On the morning of the 2nd, myself, Giovanni (Vuit), Arturo, Rico and Gigi (Pit), we climbed an inter-nal iron ladder which followed the enclosure (dan-gerous for those whose head was prone to spin-ning from the height of the Hangar) and once we reached the top platform, using Herculean efforts to help each other make our way over the iron rod, where a yellow and black Austrian flag was flying, that we were finally able to burn. Seeing the fire, people paused a moment and began to clap and shouted: Hurray, hurray. Long live Italy”.It was the cry of these poor people who after one year of occupation, the enemy had stripped of everything. We descended slowly and back on the ground, pleased to have destroyed the hated symbol, we continued the work to help the people. While we were engaged in this work, someone reported 3 cavalry, which suddenly, galloping, ap-proached us and our great hope, was finally being realised, because even from far away, we could make out from their speed and the shimmering of their sabres that they must have been Italian, and a moment later we were sure that they were ours. They stopped their horses and dismounted and turned frantically towards us, asking if there were any Austrian troops around and at our solid “no” they were convinced and asked for some quick information, the sergeant who was in charge gave the order to a soldier to leave immediately and in-form the Cavalry of their “Saluzzo” regiment, which from Meduna, where they had left the units, until the Hangar had not found any trace of enemies. The Sergeant climbed on top of the Hangar, to spy over the surrounding area, with binoculars, while the other soldier stayed on the ground to hold the horses. This was the first cavalry that had made its way to Istrago and my watch indicated that it was No-vember 2, 1918 at 11:52.We conversed with the soldier on the ground and of course asked him many questions of all kinds and he kept asking us questions. They had orders to wait for the bulk of the regiment and then head towards Pinzano as soon as possible, somehow crossing the Tagliamento river and freeing Udine the same evening. Quickly word spread of the ar-rival of our troops and soon we could see people walking and running and making their way around

us from Istrago, just to see with their own eyes that it was true. The joy of everyone is indescriba-ble and it is not easy, with simple terms, to reflect the thought and the consolation, pride, the love of country, that people bestowed on the soldiers, wanting to show their appreciation and the grati-tude that was exploding, from their poor hearts, towards the liberators [...].Shortly before 1:00 o’clock we saw hundreds of horsemen advancing towards us at moderate speed, in rows, each 20-30 meters wide, certainly in order to rake up the territory between the Medu-na and the Tagliamento. A squadron immediately started heading to the North and had now crossed the road which went from Spilimbergo – Istrago – Sequals and continues towards the Valleys of the Pre-Alps, when to our surprise we heard several trumpet blasts and some soldiers on the lookout who ran out suddenly to take orders here and there to the advancing troops and heard the first few rounds of gunfire, which took us completely by surprise because we had believed there were no more enemies around. It was around 1:00 o’clock and the cavalry that had made their way North were returning back at a gallop with swords un-sheathed, and the sad sound of machine gun shots began. We heard distant but fairly clear shouts of “Savoia” and “Urrà”, while much of the scared population found themselves in the middle of the fighting, trying to hide between the remains of the shack walls or running back toward the village.The fighting lasted 40-50 minutes and the bloodi-est moments were perhaps around the 15-20 min-ute mark. Finally came the silence and it was clear that the enemy had surrendered. Shortly after, a number of us made our way toward the centre, in other words where the fight had been most vi-olent, but the guards would not let us get close, we were forced to stop at a distance of around 50 metres, and we could tell that they were treat-ing and transporting the wounded, while the dead were now covered with mantles or whatever was available.The centre of the fighting had taken place approxi-mately 500 m south of the Hangar and about 500 meters northwest of the Chapel of the “Christ”, at the Istrago – Tauriano – Arba crossroads, in full Istrago territory [...]”. (Vittorio De Paoli; Istrago Cultural and Sports As-sociation; For more information on the Hangar or the Blimps Shipyard in Istrago: R. Mizzaro, Il 4° Cantiere Dirigibili di Istrago, Gorizia, 2016)

November 2, 1918, the charge of the “Cavalleggeri di Saluzzo” regiment

Capt. Raffaele Libroia (Naples, December 16 1889 - Tauriano, November 2, 1918)

Istrago. View of the Hangar area

Photo: Private collectionsProject coordination: Local tourist board, town of Spilimbergo


May 2017


Comune di Dignano

SPILIMBERGO

2012




Women during the war

The Declaration of war against Austria-Hun-gary would involve well over 5.5 million Ital-ians, sent to serve during the duration of the conflict, causing understandable difficulties to the various productive sectors and the ser-vices industry due to the lack of manpower. The absences that were created saw wom-en replacing and taking on many tasks typ-ically performed by men. The continuation of military operations would represent the opportunity for the woman’s image, typical-ly considered as the guardian of the home and the angel of the hearth, to undergo a significant shift. The economic conditions faced imposed ad-ditional responsibilities for women, within a family setting primarily consisting of seniors and minors to whom those answers that daily life demanded were assured. In cities it was not unusual to see women driving trams or sweeping streets and col-lecting rubbish, or working in the ammuni-tion factories, recognisable thanks to their yellowed hair caused by contact with the chemicals used. Our Friulian women adapted well to the heavy work demanded by the seasonal absence of men, engaged on work sites across various Central European countries. Their presence in the countryside or along the coasts of our hills to dig, fertilise, mow, seed, tie, thin out, harvest and transport - even on their shoul-ders - seasonal products, was a familiar sight in the agrarian landscape. In towns in close vicinity to the front, the “Carnia carriers” provided supplies to the front lines, climbing along trails exposed to enemy fire, carrying full loads of ammuni-tion, clothes, tools, food, medication and all that was necessary for the Alpine battalions deployed on the crests of the Carnia front. Used to bear the load of daily existence, made more bitter by the poverty of those valleys, with their inseparable panniers, they were capable of dealing with differences in height of 1,000 metres, carrying loads of up to 30-40 kilograms on their back, for wages that, at current market value, would not ex-ceed 3 euros per trip. In contrast, women belonging to the middle class were reserved occupations more ap-propriate to their status, including caring for the sick, caring for the needy and caring for children.

A quick look at the local situation shows some of them working at the public hospi-tal, the care home and the kindergarten, as well as involved in committees engaged in the establishment of soup kitchens, in the implementation of initiatives related to civ-il preparedness, in supporting the needs of soldiers passing through or the packaging of wool garments for those who were serving on the front lines. Among these ranks of “silent protagonists”, militated the nuns working in the hospital, in the recovery wards and at the working school sustained by the admirable example put forward by Prè Marco Bortolussi, the “Chaplain of the poor” and spouses Franc-esco Petris and Anna De Biasio, who looked after the elderly in the nursing home. “During the Austro-Hungarian invasion, in-patients were transported to Palazzo Mona-co (now Serena), in the wing facing Corso Roma to free up spaces for those wounded in the war. During those years of the war, life was very hard and difficult, particularly in terms of food, but Anna De Biasio, as-sisted by the Sisters and supported by the egregious individuals that ran the municipal-ity and other benefactors, was able to keep the poor patients comfortable until, after the end of the war, the location was once freed up and the elderly could use it again.”The homage to these “women of courage” cannot be separated from the memory of mothers and brides on whose shoulders rested the weight of daily existence. In the spring of 1917, adhering to the request for the Collection of gold for their Country, they deprived themselves of their wedding rings in exchange for an aluminium band, carried on their hands with admirable pride and affection for the rest of their lives. That wretched ring represented a tangible sign of motherly love, of anxiety, of deprivations and of suffering, born with dogged perse-verance for the greater good of the home-land.Remembering their commitment represents an act of “homage to these women whose love for their men and for their land knew how to reach beyond the power of politicians and the arrogance of Nations, able to erase the colour of uniforms, filling the ditches of the trenches because there was no more division”.

Spilimbergo. The old Public Hospital, today a nursing home

Horse-drawn ambulance

Spilimbergo. Nursing Home, Prè Marco Bortolussi bust

Photo: Franco Rota Collection; Nursing Home archives, ASP, SpilimbergoProject coordination: Local tourist board, town of Spilimbergo


May 2017


Comune di Dignano

SPILIMBERGO

2012




Spilimbergo military cemetery ossuary

The monument is located within the munici-pal cemetery northeast of the first expansion sector, completed in 1973.

Historical notes A project to restore an ossuary of fallen sol-diers from the First and Second World Wars was prepared by the Municipal Administration based on a design by architect Giovanni Franz in 1952, but was not implemented.On May 18, 1957 the bodies of German sol-diers who fell in World War II, present in munic-ipal cemeteries, were transferred to be buried in the German military cemetery in Costerma-no, located in a hilly area on the eastern shore of Lake Garda in the province of Verona. In 1967 the Municipal Administration entrust-ed surveyor Alberto Bulian, Municipal techni-cian, with the task to draft the plan for the extension and renovation of the Capoluogo cemetery. Within this context, the project concerning the military ossuary was resumed and revised, as well as seeing to the comple-tion of the design for the Cappella dei Sacer-doti, which was demolished in order to carry out the expansion work.

Architectural description of the monument The ossuary, located at the top of the colum-barium set along the north-east walls to the right of the new entrance to the square in Via Milaredo, consists of a chapel architecturally divided into two sectors. An upper one, more internal, which houses the Italian soldiers who fell in World War One (2 known and 3 unknown) and the Italian soldiers fallen during World War Two and other wars (19 soldiers) and a lower sector, more prominent, preceded by a threshold and a raised floor, which houses the fallen Austro-Hungarian soldiers (2 known and 34 unknown) with the inscription “AUS-TRO-HUNGARIANS WAR 1915-1918”. In the area created by the offsetting of the two sec-tors, a three dimensional white marble cross has been placed, symbolising their sacrifice; the cross distinguishes the fallen belonging to the different armies and under its arms unites them all within a common destiny. (Arch. G. Caregnato, 2016)

Marco CirianiBorn in Spilimbergo (Udine) on January 1, 1878. He began his studies in the Portogrua-ro Seminary, the “hotbed” of the progressive clergy; here he met Don Giuseppe Lozer and Don Annibale Giordani, “noble fathers” of the local Christian democratic movement. Lawyer, President of the Workers’ Association of mutual aid in Spilimbergo, municipal coun-cillor, and Prefectural Commissioner in 1909. President of the Pordenone Secretariat of Em-igration, engaged in the Catholic movement in defence of workers and the improvement of the living conditions under which they were forced to live. Elected Deputy in 1913, he was, first, the only parliamentary of the Italian Democratic Christian League and second, of Giuseppe Donati’s Christian Democratic Party. Interventionist during the First World War, as he supported “a sincere democratic faith, in-spired by those ideals of justice and freedom that had animated the thought and work of the great contributors of our Resurgence”. “In demonstration of the generous sacrifice which he was willing to undertake to support his ideals, he volunteered and participated ac-tively in war operations, earning a silver medal for military valour”. During his parliamentary mandate, he intervened with force to solve the problems affecting resi-dents of the Friuli region involved in the terrible World War. His voice rose loudly in the court-room and at the various ministries, to the benefit of the region’s economic revival, beginning with the reconstruction of local buildings, manufac-turing facilities, agriculture, forests and livestock, urging at the same time for energetic action to be taken in the field of public works in order to address the huge unemployment problem.He was re-elected to Parliament until the elec-tions of 1924, in which he participated only to testify against the fascist violence, of which he was ultimately the victim. He become a te-nacious opponent to fascism and consequent-ly suffered every type of abuse, so far as to see himself abandon Spilimbergo and retire to a private life in Milan, where he died on Sep-tember 23, 1944. He is buried here beside his wife, Countess Clara of Spilimbergo, and his son Livio, who died young in 1920 and in whose memory he wanted to dedicate a Cypress in the area donated to the Municipality for use as a Re-membrance Park of those fallen during the First World War.

Mgr. Annibale Giordani

Military ossuary in the Spilimbergo cemetery

Honorable Marco Ciriani

Photo: Municipality of Spilimbergo archives; Gianni Cesare Borghesan Nursing Home archives, ASP, SpilimbergoProject coordination: Local tourist board, town of Spilimbergo


May 2017


Comune di Dignano

SPILIMBERGO

2012




The Saluzzo Charge seen through the eyes of Tauriano’s children

“I remember the night before November 2, 1918 a large number of Austrian soldiers, retreating from the front, had noisily stayed overnight in the vil-lage. In the morning at 6 AM they left and I took advantage of their departure to bring water in a field outside the village where my grandfather had concealed the animals to save them from the req-uisitions, as had happened to several families from the village a few days earlier.My grandfather, who had spent the night in the field, saw two soldiers, and believing them to be enemies, tried to hide. The two horsemen found him and question him to see if there were still Aus-trians in the village. He told them he did not know anything because he had remained hidden there all night. They questioned me as well and I told them that they had left and that I did not know if they were still there. I left the buckets behind and I returned to the village with them. Several villag-ers came out from the first houses. The soldiers recommended not to make noise because they feared ambushes.I made my way back to the field with my grand-father and saw a regiment of cavalry which had arrived in the meantime from the Tauriano coun-tryside. The captain who later was injured and treated in the village was also there. Then I heard a machine gun going off and I imagined what was happening. I thought that the Austrians could have been hiding in the nearby Hangar of Istrago, but in-stead they were hidden in one of my uncle’s corn fields. I don’t know how many they were, I know that a number of them also died. I escaped to the village and I did not witness the battle. When the wounded were brought to the village everyone was waiting to see if any fellow countryman were among the military. The first was “Moru Moka” who could only say hello before heading off with the rest of the unit.After the battle we learned that an Austrian having lost a hand in the battle continued to shoot with the other. The prisoners and all the Austrian materials recov-ered were taken to Tagliamento where a prison camp had been set up. The wounded Italians were brought into the village in the Indri family backyard, taking up all the space”. [Cristofoli Regina, 1902 – 1994].

“I was 5 years old and I remember well those wounded soldiers that were losing blood. […] The dead Italians were taken to the cemetery in Tau-riano. I remember seeing them lined up and per-fectly dressed in uniform, looking like they were

sleeping. They were young, they had only been in that one fight, because they couldn’t go with hors-es on the karst. They were buried where today Pitton’s grave is found. I know that in later years, while I was abroad, they were taken elsewhere. The Austrians on the other hand were all buried in Spilimbergo. I also remember that after the battle, on the road leading to the furnace, the personal papers of an Italian soldier were found. It is not true that the Austrians were attacked by villagers. I also know that the unyielding Austrian who contin-ued to shoot with one hand was brought into the house of the Colauttis and executed there. [Indri Elisa, 1913 – 2004]

“I remember everything quite well. Already the night before the village had been overrun by a large number of retreating Austrian soldiers. In the evening a few Italian aircraft flew over, shooting at the bridge over the Tagliamento, where the Aus-trians were retreating. On the afternoon of the 2nd we heard a machine gun being fired and 2 cannon strikes. A rifle bullet struck the door in front of the current schools. We made our way up towards the Arba road, there was 4 or 5 of us. We saw a trench in a ditch where the machine gun was. We saw some shot horses, breathing through the wounds between their ribs. The Austrian soldiers were buried in a ditch, and were later moved else-where. The 2 cannons were recovered near the bell tower [the two 105 cannons, together with six

machine guns and fourteen horses were the spoils

of the battle]. The wounded Austrian soldiers were brought around the village showing their injuries. The next morning we made our way to the site of the battle retrieving blankets, shoes and other items. There could have been 200 Austrians or even more. I believe they came from Arba. The battle took place right there where the memorial stone lies, where the Austrians had erected an ob-servatory. The Italian wounded were taken first to Colautti, and then Libroia and others were treated in the village. The Italians were a squadron with two captains. Two injured Austrians were left on the battlefield and died during the course of the night. We later indicated the place where they had been buried with Don Carlo and the Red Cross” [Passudetti Francesco, known as Balo, 1908 -1990].

Interviews by: Cimatoribus Gianluigi, Contardo

Silvano, Martina Fabio. Transcripts of recordings:

Tape no. 1 of July 28, 1987. Società Operaia di

Tauriano Archives.

Capt. Raffaele Libroia (Naples, December 16 1889 - Tauriano, November 2, 1918)

The Spilimbergo firing range between Barbeano, Tauriano, Istrago and Vacile

November 2, 1918, the charge of the “Cavalleggeri di Saluzzo” regiment

Photo: Luigi Zanin Collection; Private archives Nursing Home archives, ASP, SpilimbergoProject coordination: Local tourist board, town of Spilimbergo


May 2017

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