Historical Monte Tudaio itinerary

Leaving your car near the chalet "Pino Solitario", you go along the military road that crosses the "Pian della Loppa" (Wolf's Plane) till the bed of Rio Soandre. From here a path, on the left, leads you into the cave infrastructures of the "Vallo alpino del Littorio", built between 1939 and 1941. Taking the military road instead, built between 1909 and 1912 by Engineer corps and local workers, you start climbing the first bends called "le Calade" reaching "Pian de Liberal" after about 3/4 of an hour, to the first of two military shelters. Keep going across localities called "il Fornato", "l'Espola" and "la Lasta" till the small plain called "la Busa" where, after 3/4 of an hour, you reach the second shelter, near a small fountain. This is the only place where you can fill up with water.
 From "la Busa" the road climbs more gently through the wood. On "Col dell'Elma" you can see the large water collection tanks used in the war; past these you continue for "la Pala di Jarone", "le Masiere", "il Pezzolon" , "il Pian delle Mede", reaching "Col muto" after an hour. Here you can visit the large tunnel built between 1916-17 as an alternative to the fort; this, after crossing the entire hill, opens onto 4 embrasures overlooking Comelico and the Val Ansiei. Keep climbing to cross the tunnel "Tofo" until "Panere", where, on a first terrace, you can still see the signs of huts on the ground; this includes the "workers'" one with the remains of a bread oven. A further stretch takes you to the entrance of Fort of Monte Tudaio, guarded by a small guard post, beyond which a 30 metre tunnel leads into the fortified perimeter. The infrastructure, built between 1911 and 1915, seems to be divided over three floors. The lowest, with munitions depot and a provisions warehouse, controlled access to the peak from the "Mede" path with a long defensive wall. The middle floor housed barracks and laboratories and the highest part the armoured battery, the plant's core. This was formed by an upturned, "U" shaped cement block with 4 wells for 149 A canons protected by armoured Armstrong turrets weighing 180 quintals, which used an observation post on the hill above for firing adjustment instructions. It is not advisable to visit the tunnels as the ceilings fall down. Near the battery, you can still see the remains of the arrival station of the fort's main one of three cableways. The fortified perimeter, protected by a triple defence wall, could have enabled about 200 men to resist indefinitely, even if the enemy invaded Cadore completely. However, from the very start of the Great War, the fort was cut off from real operations as it was too far from the front line. Becoming important again after the Caporetto retreat, it entered action firing many shots against Austrian troupes reaching Auronzo and S. Stefano di Cadore, but without much success. The garrison abandoned this infrastructure after some sabotage; one year later, between 18 and 26 October 1918, the Austrian carefully destroyed it when they withdrew.
 This itinerary is in a wildly beautiful place and offers extraordinary views of the Dolomites of Auronzo and the Cadore.

Source: ecomuseograndeguerra.it