Austro-Hungarian Cemetery of Palmanova

The Austro-Hungarian cemetery of Palmanova is one of the main military cemeteries in Friuli Venezia Giulia. It was laid out by the Italian authorities after the conflict to provide a dignified burial for the remains of more than 19,000 imperial soldiers who had fallen.

A broad avenue lined with cypresses crosses the lawn where the identified dead rest. The graves are marked by concrete plaques engraved with the soldier’s name and a small bas-relief cross. At the centre of the avenue stands the monument marking the tomb of “670 soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army, here without a name but in the same faith”.

In the southern sector of the cemetery there are two mass graves containing 15,000 unidentified soldiers. Finally, there is the chapel dedicated to the fallen, inside which there is a stone altar and a depiction of the dying Christ.