The Ortigara Plateau and the trails of the Great War

The Asiago Plateau is famous for its cheese and its cross-country ski trails, but few climb all the way up to the Ortigara, where the mountain preserves one of the harshest chapters of the Great War. Here, on the high-altitude pastures of the Sette Comuni, a grinding battle was fought in 1917 that left behind trenches, tunnels, communication ways and memorial stones still visible today. It is a largely forgotten historic front, off the circuits of more fashionable Dolomite tourism, and precisely for this reason a place of silence and memory where you almost always walk in peace.

The hike

The classic hike starts from the Piazzale Lozze area, reachable by car up from the plateau. From here you climb toward the summit of Monte Ortigara, marked by the famous truncated column, the monument that commemorates the fallen, and by the small church of Lozze a little lower down. Along the way you come across trenches cut into the limestone rock, remains of positions, tunnels and the Austrian and Italian markers that trace the lines of the front. The most complete route unfolds as a loop touching the symbolic points of the battle, letting you read on the ground the geography of the clash among the pastures and karst sinkholes of the plateau.

The landscape is the typical one of the high karst mountains: rolling grasslands, outcropping rock, hollows and few trees, with broad views over the plateau and the distant Dolomites. The presence of the war remains, everywhere, turns a simple walk into a journey through memory, to be approached with respect.

Getting there

You arrive by car from Asiago, climbing toward the Gallio and Foza area, up to the car parks in the upper zone from which the trail begins. A car is the most practical way to reach the start; from there the loop is done entirely on foot.

The Ortigara is not a mountain like any other: it is a peak that became a symbol, where thousands of Italian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers lost their lives for control of a few metres of rock. Walking among its trenches means crossing a battlefield that has remained essentially intact, where the karst terrain has preserved the wounds of war. You can make out the lookout positions, the shelters carved into the stone, the remains of the barbed wire and the craters of the explosions. The truncated column on the summit, a monument commissioned by the veterans, bears an inscription that has become famous, and from the highest point the eye takes in the whole plateau, conveying the strategic meaning of these places and the hardship of those who fought up here, amid cold and storms.

The difficulty

The difficulty is moderate: it is a hike suited to those with good legs but requiring no mountaineering skills. The elevation gain is modest compared with the great Alpine climbs and the trails are well marked, though the karst terrain is stony and uneven and some stretches climb steeply toward the summit. It is a day outing within reach of many hikers, to be tackled nonetheless with suitable footwear and care, especially if you explore the tunnels with a torch.

When to go

The best time is late spring and autumn. June offers flowering meadows and long days; September and October bring clear air, warm colours and an even deeper quiet, when the plateau empties of summer holidaymakers. By choosing these months you avoid the crowds: the Ortigara is not a destination for a mass outing and its trails remain walked mostly by hikers and those seeking places of memory, not by the intensive tourism of the more celebrated peaks.

A practical tip: bring a torch if you want to peer into the tunnels and gorges dug by the soldiers, dress in layers because at altitude the wind is cold even in the sun, and take the time to read the markers and panels along the way. This is not a trek to do at a run: every trench tells a story, and walking slowly, in silence, is the right way to cross a place that is at once mountain and memory. Leave everything as you find it: the war remains are testimonies to be respected, not souvenirs to be collected.