Forte Belvedere

The Belvedere-Gschwent stronghold was built by the Army Corps of Engineers under the direction of the Austro-Hungarian Lieutenant Rudolf Schneider in the four-year-period 1908-1912 with the aim of defending Trento from the possible Italian attacks in this peculiar area.

Thanks to its 200-soldiers-garrison, led by a lieutenant, the stronghold completely fulfilled its defensive task by supporting the military actions.
Despite the strong bombardments directed by the Italian artillery located in Porta Manazza, Campolongo and Campomolon and the consequent damages, the stronghold succeeded in resisting: in fact, as soon as the bombings ended, the soldiers restored the damaged buildings.
Just in the first years of war more than one thousand heavy-caliber bombs were thrown upon the fortification, some of which managed to pierce the armoured structures and on the 16th of May 1916 the explosion of an Italian grenade caused the death of nine Italian soldiers and injured 18 of their comrades.
Contrary to what happened to the other strongholds, which were demolished in the 30s in order to collect the iron contained in them, Belvedere-Gschwent escaped the postwar demolition ordered by King Vittorio Emanuele the Third.
Owned by the Municipality of Lavarone, which in 2002 accurately restored it and prepared thematic routes for the visitors, the fortress is today a museum showing the most dramatic events of the First World War. Belvedere-Gschwent is a unique and indispensable witness of a conflict that dramatically upset Europe.