Colle delle benne plant

Colle delle benne plant after restoration (2017)

Colle delle benne plant (before the restoration started in 2012) with the hilltop of the Busa Grande behind it, on which the cavern plant of the same name is located

The work Colle delle benne ( Italian and Forte San Biagio ) was part of the Austro-Hungarian mounting bolt on the frontier with Italy and is located on a hill north of Lake Levico in today's province of Trento .

It was built between 1880 and 1882 according to the plans of the then kuk chief genius, Field Marshal Lieutenant Julius Ritter von Vogel, using the quarry stone construction method, which was already becoming obsolete. With its sister plant, the Tenna plant , it blocked the Valsugana (Sugana Valley) and secured the left flank of the Trento fortress .

The building originally had four floors with 47 rooms (including the basement) and had two turret domes and a crenellated wall on the top of the tank battery in order to ward off any infantry attacks from the direction of Busa Grande and Panarotta. In 1914 the work was considered to be "partially shell-proof" and "less storm-free", which meant that it could only withstand fire from light field cannons, but not howitzers for a certain period of time.

The original armament consisted of:

2 pieces of 15 cm M 80 tank mortars

4 pieces of 12 cm minimal card cannons M 80

Colle delle benne during the disarmament in 1915

In 1914, the two tank mortars were replaced by 10 cm M 5 self-propelled howitzers.
The crew consisted of detachments from the Imperial and Royal State Rifle Regiment "Bozen" No. II and the fortress artillery bellyballs No. 1 and No. 8

Shortly after the start of the war against Italy, due to the inadequate fire safety of the facility, the two armored turrets and the armored observation dome began to be removed and moved to the Busa Grande cavern plant, which was built in the immediate vicinity .

The structure, which was not involved in fighting, is owned by the municipality of Levico Terme and is in relatively good condition. The original inscription "Werk Colle delle benne" is still located above the valley gate

Extensive structural restoration work was carried out between 2012 and 2014, and since then the facility can be visited in the summer months (May – October) for a fee.

Remarks

↑ The Busa Grande cavern plant, located at 1508 m above sea level near Compet above Colle delle bene, was reopened to visitors in September 2016 after several years of renovation.

literature

Erwin Anton Grestenberger: Imperial and Royal fortifications in Tyrol and Carinthia 1860–1918. Verlag Österreich ua, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-8132-0747-1 .
Wilhelm Nussstein: Dolomites. Austrian fortresses in Northern Italy. From the seven municipalities to the Flitscher Klause. Mittler, Hamburg et al. 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0496-0 , ( military history travel guide ).

Web links

Commons : Werk Colle delle benne - collection of images, videos and audio files

Factory Colle delle Benne Landmark Scout (s)

46.0211199 11.280942 649Coordinates: 46 ° 1 ′ 16 ″ N , 11 ° 16 ′ 51.4 ″ E

[1] The Busa Grande cavern plant, located at 1508 m above sea level near Compet above Colle delle bene, was reopened to visitors in September 2016 after several years of renovation.