In my previous posts I have written many times about the First World War. A war that, in the area where I live, has profoundly marked the history and even the names of the villages, many of which have added the suffix “Della Battaglia” (of the Battle) at the end.
A war fought between the Alps and Venice, along the rivers as well as on snow-capped peaks.
A war that has profoundly changed the geography of my country.
A war that is still remembered with monuments, large and small, in the squares of all the villages.
A war with many dead and with many cemeteries. Many of the bodies buried there have no names, they are unknown soldiers. Names are remembered in tombstones and monuments, and that’s it.
At the end of the war, when peace was reached, the nations involved in the conflict decided to honor the fallen soldiers who remained unnamed.
In Italy the bodies of 11 unknown soldiers were chosen, taken from the war sites and brought to the basilica of Aquileia, in 11 identical coffins. The choice of the coffin was made by the mother of an unidentified soldier, to symbolize all those families who had lost a child at the front.
The city of Aquileia played a fundamental role in this part of history. Last year, on the occasion of the centenary, this role was therefore emphasized with set-ups and events to mark the places where this happened.
In this post I want to try to retrace them, starting however from the end, from the railway station from which, in a special wagon, the coffin left for Rome, only to be buried in the Altar of the Fatherland (Altare della Patria).
The whole story is told in illustrative panels, which guide us on the path that connects the Railway station, the Basilica, and the Heroes’ Cemetery, located just behind the Basilica.
The railway that passes through Aquileia has a strange history: A railway line of just over 15 km, built to connect Cervignano del Friuli with the city of Grado, was inaugurated in 1916, to officially cease operations in 1937.
Its moment of maximum splendor was on October 29, 1921, when the body of the Unknown Soldier left the station in the direction of Rome.
On the occasion of the centenary, the area of the old station was completely renovated, and the building of the station covered by a restructuring that represents it as it should have been in 1921. The electrical substation next to the train station has been frescoed with murals representing the event. The most notable is the portrait of Maria Bergamas, the mother who, representing all the mothers of soldiers who fell in the war, chose the coffin of the Unknown Soldier, among the 11 of her in front of her.
From the train station, we begin to walk along a beautiful avenue with illustrative panels and comfortable benches, to reach our next destination: The Heroes’ Cemetery
After a few meters, your attention will be caught by a strange building on your right. This is Tito Macro’s Domus, which we will discuss in a future post.
In a few steps you will meet a crossroads. Leave the asphalted avenue to follow the “Via Antica”, a dirt road that in a few steps will take you to pass behind the Cemetery of the Heroes of Aquileia, and then reach its entrance.
The Cemetery: 214 soldiers who died at the beginning of the First World War are buried in the cemetery, as well as the bodies of 10 unknown soldiers who had been exhibited in the Basilica for the ceremony of the Unknown Soldier.
Like all military cemeteries, the characteristic is simplicity: Simple graves all the same, with an iron cross.
The outline of a large black marble book, engraved with the names of the buried soldiers, stands out at the entrance.
In the center you can see the monument with the sarcophagus of the 10 unknown soldiers
Along the wall of the cemetery, almost in front of the entrance, stands the bronze statue of the Sacrifice, attributed to the sculptor Ettore Ximenes: A Red Cross nurse supports the body of a soldier, dead or wounded.
At the exit of the cemetery, on the side of the bell tower of the church, a sentence of Pope John XIII is carved: “Mothers and fathers hate war”.
The theme of the mother is the leitmotif of this experience. it is a mother, Maria Bergamas, who chooses the coffin of the unknown soldier, it is the mothers who mourn the loss of their children who fell in battle, the word “Mater” (mother in Latin) is the basis of all the illustrative panels of the path of the Soldier Unknown.
A path that we ideally conclude in front of the Basilica where the story began, and where the number 100, in which 1 represented by a soldier holding the Italian flag, is placed in front of the bell tower, to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the event.
If now you want to visit the Basilica, you can read Aquileia, Roman Empire in the North East of Italy - Part 1, the first post of a series about Aquileia
This post was written “on request” as @PattyBlack wanted to learn more about the part relating to the Unknown Soldier. I would probably have written it anyway, but I’m glad Patty directed my writing
If you want to read more about the WW1 in my area, I suggest you to start from In the shadow of the last sun - Isle of the Dead
Want to know more?
- Exploring the territory of 1st World War - Passo San Boldo
- exploring the territory of 1st World War - The battle of the solstice
- “in a war, nobody wins - we are all losers”
- Francesco Baracca and the “Ferrari symbol”
This post is part of the Challenge Gems Of the World - A Connect Travel Post Challenge started by @KashifMisidia
#Gemsoftheworld #ConnectTravelChallenge
or narrated commonly. Thank you very much for bringing this side of the story to us. I studied ancient history of South Asia in Venice, Italy. And Thank you very much 
In our plan, we will let you try some signature and traditional dishes of Pakistan, and will make a clean the world drive plan with “
