Plaque of the First Shot Fired in the Great War

Suspended between history and legend, the locality of Visinale is home to a commemorative plaque marking what is traditionally considered to have been the first shot fired by an Italian soldier on the night of 23 May 1915.

The stele consists of a metal bas-relief accompanied by a plaque recounting the events of that night. The relief depicts a soldier firing his rifle under the guidance of "Italia Turrita", the allegorical personification of Italy. The plaque, meanwhile, tells how two customs guards stationed near the bridge over the Judrio River—then the border line—became suspicious of unusual movements and opened fire in the direction of Brazzano. A group of Austro-Hungarian soldiers had allegedly attempted to place explosives beneath the bridge, but the gunfire prevented them from completing the sabotage.

Naturally, once war has been declared, it is impossible to determine with certainty which was the first shot fired by an army, especially when forces were deployed along a front stretching from Lombardy to the Karst. Various accounts, in fact, report that between 23 and 24 May 1915 the first troop movements and exchanges of fire had already occurred in several places, from the Dolomites to the Friulian plain. The stele at Visinale therefore holds a significance that is more symbolic than strictly historical in relation to the Great War in Friuli Venezia Giulia.