Excursion to "Forte Dossaccio"
Author’s recommendation
Track types
Safety information
THE 10 RULES FOR HIKERS
- Prepare your itinerary beforehand
- Choose an itinerary that suits your physical abilities
- Choose suitable clothes and equipment
- Check the weather forecast
- Hiking by yourself is more risky; if this is the case, take a mobile phone with you
- Leave information about your itinerary and your expected return time
- If you are not sure about your itinerary, contact an Alpine Guide
- Pay attention to signposts and directions that you find along your way
- Do not hesitate in going back if you feel too tired
- In case of emergency call 112
Please note that the practicability of the itineraries in a mountain environment is strictly linked to the contingent conditions and is therefore influenced by natural phenomena, environmental changes and weather conditions. For this reason, the information contained in this page may have changed. Before leaving for a tour, make sure the path you will approach is still accessible by contacting the owner of the mountain hut, the alpine guides or the visitor centres of the nature parks, the info offices of the local tourist board.
Tips and hints
APT Val di Fiemme - Tel. +39 0462 241111 - info@visitfiemme.it - www.visitfiemme.it
Start
Destination
Turn-by-turn directions
From Castelir, follow the signs for Forte Dossaccio. The path winds completely on a dirt road; the first section crosses green mountain meadows with some isolated huts. Then you enter the wood that bears traces of the Vaia storm (October 2018).
You reach Forte Dossaccio from which you can enjoy a magnificent panorama of the Pale di San Martino and the peaks of the Lagorai chain.
Return back on the same path.
This Austrian fortified complex was built at the same time as the access road to Forte Buso, between 1886 and 1900, and was modernised prior to the war itself (1912). The fort was excavated out of the rock of Dossaccio and built of porphyry blocks.
Next to the fort is a basin for the collection of rainwater (there are obviously no springs here on the summit), a walkway to the lookout tower, tunnels and trenches.
Forte Dossaccio was designed to permit long-range operations from a secure position and allow firing in all directions (towards the Passo Valles, Rolle - Colbricon, Bocche - Juribrutto and possibly also towards Predazzo, if the Lagorai line should have been overrun). The front ditch was provided with a cement covering and a machine gun emplacement.
The fort was armed with four 120 mm cannons in a casemate with minimal embrasures, four 100 mm Howitzers equipped with steel revolving domes and twelve 8 mm machineguns. The fort was also equipped with a tower for signalling and lookout purposes.
During the war the cannons were moved outside the fort and into the woods, partly in subterranean passages connected by tunnels and trenches. The domes of the Howitzers were refashioned in concrete and covered with tree trunks in order to camouflage the new emplacements. In 1915 and 1916 the cannons of the fort played a significant role in the defence of the Passo Rolle and Colbricon line. It was repeatedly bombarded but the large porphyry blocks held up well even when exposed to the 280 mm shells of the Italian artillery.
Note
Public transport
Public-transport-friendly
The public busses "Trentino Trasporti" from Predazzo to San Martino di Castrozza stop in Castelir.Getting there
From Predazzo drive direction Passo Rolle. After Bellamonte drive left to the litfs of Castelir. Park after the first bend on the left.Parking
Parking area on your left side.Coordinates
Author’s map recommendations
Tabacco – Val di Fiemme, Lagorai, Latemar N° 14
Kompass – Val di Fiemme, Catena del Lagorai N° 618
Hiking map available in all Val di Fiemme information offices.
Equipment
Hiking shoes, rain-jacket, hiking poles, water, sun creamStatistics
- 3 Waypoints
- 3 Waypoints
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