Monte Ercole Fort

Monte Ercole Fort, also called Ospedaletto Fort after the nearby hamlet of Gemona del Friuli, forms part of the “Upper Tagliamento-Fella” fortress system together with the nearby forts of Osoppo, Monte Festa and Chiusaforte.

Considered one of the most strategically important areas, the military commands decided as early as 1904 to build this work in order to block the Tagliamento Valley and control the Sella di Interneppo and the Sella Foredôr, the pass between Mount Cuarnan and Mount Chiampon. To support it, permanent batteries were also installed on nearby Monte Cumieli, and an artillery position was planned at Sella di Sant’Agnese, though without the construction of dedicated buildings.

Nevertheless, in the fateful days following the Caporetto retreat, Monte Ercole Fort was not used to slow the Austro-German advance, unlike Monte Festa Fort. In 1917 the fort was disarmed, damaged with explosive charges and abandoned.

Despite this, Monte Ercole Fort remains one of the most evocative Great War sites in Friuli Venezia Giulia, also thanks to the beauty of the surrounding natural setting. After a short walk along Lake Minisini, visitors soon reach the first remains of the military complex. Visible are several guard posts and three large ruined buildings, once used as storehouses and soldiers’ quarters. These were connected to the upper level of the fort by an underground hoist, which, curiously, opens out into the machine-gun casemate placed to protect the innermost courtyard. Following the military road, one soon crosses the courtyard and reaches the monumental entrance to the armoured block.

Inside, the ready-use shelters and the stepped corridors, today walled up, that led to the positions of the four 149 mm guns once housed under armoured domes can still be recognised. The block is surrounded by a long gallery trench equipped with numerous rifle loopholes and a machine-gun caponier, which is certainly worth exploring. Inside the trench system and on several walls of the complex, numerous graffiti left by soldiers who garrisoned the fort before, during and after the Great War can also be seen.