Forte Intra i Sásc - Forte Tre Sassi
Museum · Dolomites
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Fort Tre Sassi was built by Austria-Hungary between 1897 and 1901 to guard the Falzarego and Valparola approaches against Italy, its fifty-man garrison also manning trenches at Valparola and Sass de Stria. Italian artillery hit the fort on 5 July 1915, and 210mm shells pierced its unreinforced concrete roof, forcing its abandonment. Reopened as a museum in 2003, it displays over 2,000 wartime objects gathered by the Lancedelli family.
Even after the bombardment left it unusable, Austrian troops kept up the appearance of a working garrison to draw Italian fire; a soldier at the position joked that the shelling cost the Italians more than building the fort had cost the Austrians. The fort was armed with M98 8cm cannons and two M98 6cm cannons in an armored casemate, four machine guns and an observation post facing the approach from Italy. An Austrian diary from the position records up to 450 grenades of all calibres fired at it in a single day during the two months after the first hit. The Lancedelli family spent 45 years assembling the wartime collection now on display inside, and a winter snowshoe route retraces what defending the pass was like under snow.
What you see
A costumed World War I soldier stands guard at the entrance, and recreated trenches and barracks spread across the saddle beside a small summit lake, framed by Sass de Stria and the Lagazuoi peaks.
Practical
The museum is closed Tuesdays, open 10:00-12:30 and 14:00-16:30 the rest of the week. There is no café or water at the pass summit, the nearest is down at Falzarego.
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