Brescian War Tales: Fava’s Book on Garda-Ledro Front History
Names like Lorina, Carone, Passo Tremalzo, and Monte Caplone might at most spark the interest of a connoisseur of the Gardesano hinterland or mountain enthusiasts. Yet, these places, a century ago, were marked by the massive presence of soldiers, bombings, and the fear and despair that every war brings with it.
Another chapter of Brescian history is found in the book “The Great War on the front between Garda and Ledro” by Domenico Fava. Presented yesterday morning at Palazzo Martinengo by the mayor of Tremosine, Diego Ardigò, it was attended not only by the author but also by the provincial president Alberto Cavalli, Mauro Grazioli of “Il Sommolago“, and the son of Second Lieutenant Giuseppe Cipelli, the protagonist and source of many pages of the book.
Testimonies and the environment of war
The Brescia territory was a protagonist in many areas of the Great War, and even today numerous testimonies of military buildings and roads remain among our mountains. Fava focused particularly on the area of the Upper Garda, a frontier environment between Italian and Austrian territories.
The Tremosine plateau, along with the towns of Limone and Molina di Ledro, was, during that period, the theater of clashes and battles which, although of limited scale, profoundly marked landscapes and local populations. A “minor” front, so to speak, of which Piacenza-born Second Lieutenant Giuseppe Cipelli left numerous and very interesting testimonies, thanks to his letters to family and especially his passion for photography.
Origin of the book and resonance with historical images
It was precisely from some images left by Cipelli, which a few years ago were displayed in an exhibition in Bezzecca, that the idea for this book was born. Written by Domenico Fava, who for over thirty years has been involved with the events of the First World War in Brescia.
Images capable of recreating moments of peace and entertainment among soldiers, who were entrusted with defending a border deserted by the Trentino side (the Valle di Ledro had been evacuated), but still partly inhabited between Limone and Tremosine, by olive and lemon farmers forced to witness the destruction of their homes and fields.
Statistics and historical reconstruction
“Only among Italians there were about 800 deaths,” — explains Fava — “many of which were not due to combat actions but to disease, fires, avalanches. There is still much to write about Tremosine; a lot of archival documentation remains to be studied.”
A varied landscape that, through the war correspondence, the author has successfully reconstructed, without falling into excessive personalism, but always keeping the historical reality in view, where minor events were embedded.
This is a tribute to all those who fought and died on that front for three years. A sacrifice that helped unify two peoples, who spoke the same language but wore two different uniforms.
