The Redipuglia Memorial is the largest and most majestic Italian shrine dedicated to the fallen of the Great War. Built on the slopes of Monte Sei Busi to a design by architect Giovanni Greppi and sculptor Giannino Castiglioni, it was inaugurated on 18 September 1938 after ten years of work. This work, also known as the Sacrario “dei Centomila” (Shrine of the Hundred Thousand), holds the remains of 100,187 soldiers who fell in the surrounding areas, some of whom were initially buried on the Colle di Sant’Elia in front of it.
Strongly desired by the fascist regime, the shrine wanted to celebrate the sacrifice of the fallen as well as to give a dignified burial to those who had not found a place in the Cimitero degli Invitti. The structure consists of three levels and symbolically represents the army descending from the sky, led by its commander, to walk the Via Eroica. At the top, three crosses recall the image of Mount Golgotha and the crucifixion of Christ. Having parked the car on the square in front of the shrine, the visit begins after passing the chain of the destroyer’Grado’, an Austro-Hungarian ship that became Italian after the end of the war. Walking towards the tombs , one walks along the ‘Via Eroica’ , a stone-paved road bordered by 38 bronze plaques indicating the names of the Karst localities disputed during the Great War.
At the end of this evocative route , one arrives at the majestic tombs of the generals, among which stands out that of the commander of the Third Army, Emanuele Filiberto Duca d’Aosta , who had expressed the wish to be buried at Redipuglia. The tomb is formed from a block of red marble from Val Camonica weighing 75 tonnes. At its side are the granite tombs of five generals: Antonio Chinotto, Tommaso Monti, Giovanni Prelli, Giuseppe Paolini and Fulvio Riccieri. Behind them rise the 22 steps (2.5 metres high and 12 metres wide) that, in alphabetical order, hold the remains of the 39857 soldiers identified. Each loculus is surmounted by the inscription ‘Present’ and can be reached via the side stairs leading to the top. In the centre of the first step is the only woman buried, a Red Cross nurse named Margherita Kaiser Parodi Orlando, while on the 22nd step are the remains of 72 sailors and 56 men of the Guardia di Finanza.
At the end of the staircase and steps, two large tombs covered with bronze slabs hold the remains of over 60,000 unknown soldiers. Passing through, one arrives at the top of the shrine where the visit can continue by visiting the small chapel that holds the ‘Deposition’ and the Stations of the Cross panels by the sculptor Castiglioni. Above this religious structure are the three bronze crosses. At the back of the last step are two museum rooms: inside are photographs of the first Redipuglia Shrine, documents, war relics and Ciotti’s paintings that adorned the first Tomb of the Duke of Aosta, originally placed in the small chapel at the top of the Sant’Elia Hill. On the plateau, at Quota 89, is the Observatory and a model of the territory showing the border line at dawn on 24 October 1917, the day of the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo.