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 () and the Porte del Pasubio () 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 long, of which length of the galleries is obtained by adding the lengths of the individual galleries mentioned in the book are divided into 52 tunnels excavated from the rock, each tunnel is numbered and characterized by a particular name. The minimum width of was originally intended to allow the transit of two mules with their baggage. taken from the technical report of Captain Corrado Picone. The slope of the road reaches 22 percent, with an average of 12 percent. Notable among the many tunnels is the 19th because, in addition to being the longest (), it has a helical layout with 4 hairpin bends, inside a gigantic rock tower.. Tunnel 20 is carved out of a rock tower and to overcome the difference in height, it twists around itself like a corkscrew. Tunnels 41 through 45 run below the Passo Fontana d'oro (). On leaving the 47th tunnel the highest point of the road (), there is a panoramic view.
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 tunnelName of tunnelLength of tunnelPicture1Cap. Zappa17 metres2Gen. D'Havet65 metres3Rovereto14 metres4Battisti31 metres5Oberdan10 metres6Trieste17 metres7Gen. Cascino35 metres8Gen. Cantore23 metres9Gen. Zoppi78 metres10Sauro12 metres11Magg. Randaccio28 metres12Cap. Motti95 metres13Cap. Filzi27 metres14Cap. Melchiori61 metres15Tortona45 metres16Reggio Calabria74 metres17Bergamo52 metres18Parma46 metres19Re (Victor Emmanuel III of Italy)318 metres20Gen. Cadorna86 metres21Gen. Porro20 metres22Breganze8 metres23Gen. Capello18 metresOrder of tunnelName of tunnelLength of tunnelPicture24Bologna16 metres25Aquila11 metres26Napoli24 metres27Cap. Picone98 metres28Genoa14 metres29Spezia31 metres30Miss10 metres31Gen. Papa72 metres32Palazzolo48 metres3333ª minatori57 metres34Gen. Giustetti132 metres35Trani10 metres36Gen. Garibaldi12 metres37Balilla26 metres38Turin29 metres39Mantua53 metres40Trento10 metres4126ª minatori24 metres42Macerata19 metres43Polesine55 metres44Zappatori Liguria22 metres45Plotone 25ª minatori83 metres46Piceno65 metres47Pallanza22 metres48Cesena14 metres49Soldato italiano19 metres50Cav. Vittorio Veneto27 metres51Plotone minatori sardo66 metres52Sardinia86 metres
Similar Treks Alta Via 1 Alta Via 2 Alta Via dei Monti Liguri Grand Italian Trail Selvaggio Blu (Sardinia) Caminito del Rey Tofana di Rozes
References
Notes
Cartography "Sentieri Pasubio e Carega-foglio Nord" 1:20.000 Sezioni vicentine del CAI Sentieri della val di Posina, edito dalla Provincia di Vicenza, assessorato al turismo 26 April 2013
Bibliography
External links Strada delle 52 gallerie Strada delle 52 gallerie Itinerario Bericht über die Strada delle 52 Galerie im Explorermagazin