The “war memorials” project
Over 700 thousand victims, more than one million mutilated and injured persons, a general mobilization that saw over 5.5 million people flying to arms. These are only some of the dramatic figures of the First World War on the Italian side, 41 months of atrocities and death, from 24th May 1915 to the armistice of 4th November 1918.
The places where the memory of this tragedy is kept represent the underlying theme of the entire programme of commemorations. The recovery and enhancement of the memory of the Great War start from here, from the military War Memorials set up in the sites that were the theatre of the conflict and that in several cases need extraordinary maintenance as well as conservative restoration interventions, as in the case of Cima Grappa and Redipuglia.
Furthermore, Italy intends to restore and enhance the exhibition areas already existing inside of some War Memorials and, following what has already been done with the Memorials established for the 150th anniversary of the Unity of Italy, the aim is to develop new narrative paths and new systems for the presentation of materials: these should be able to tell significant moments and stories of our national events and of the First World War also to young generations that are mentally and chronologically distant from WW1.
The programme of interventions was drafted in close collaboration with the Ministry of Defence, in agreement with the Italian War Graves Agency, and involves all the Italian territories that were the theatre of the conflict, from the Trentino Region to the Pasubio Valleys, from the Asiago Tableland to Monte Grappa, from Cadore to Piave, from Montello to Carso.