Restoration of the Redipuglia Military Memorial

The Redipuglia Military Memorial stands on the slopes of Mount Sei Busi, a rise in the western Karst overlooking the Friulian plain and the lower reaches of the Isonzo River, an area that was the scene of extremely violent battles between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies during World War I. The monument was inaugurated in the Fascist era on the 20th anniversary of the end of the Great War, in 1938, designed by architect Giovanni Greppi and sculptor Giannino Castiglioni. It is Italy's largest and most majestic memorial, one of the largest in the world, also called "of the Hundred Thousand" due to the fact that it holds the remains of 100,187 fallen soldiers in the surrounding areas.

Il Sacrario è strutturato su tre livelli: vi si accede percorrendo un camminamento lastricato in pietra del Carso, la Via Eroica, che si allunga tra due file di lastre bronzee infisse nella pavimentazione, su cui sono incise le località delle principali battaglie. Il viale conduce al Piazzale delle Adunate, dominato dalle tombe del Duca D’Aosta, comandante della Terza Armata, e dei suoi cinque generali. Il piazzale coincide con la base del colle, sulle cui pendici si arrampicano i gradoni in pietra bianca del Carso, l’elemento distintivo e più appariscente del Sacrario, dove sono alloggiate le salme dei centomila caduti. Sulla sommità del colle, completano il monumento tre croci, una cappella e un osservatorio.

The restoration was preceded by extensive preliminary research, aimed not only at mapping the decay and studying the materials, but also at correctly interpreting the monument from a historical and philological point of view. On the one hand, a thorough diagnostic campaign was completed by means of soundings, stratigraphic studies, sampling and material analysis. Each element was subjected to a thorough visual examination, noting its defects, cracks, micro-cracks, out-of-plumb, depressions, possible presence of excessive deformation or detachment. In parallel, archival research was conducted aimed at recovering and studying the original documentation related to the shrine, which includes photographs, drawings and documents from the period. The restoration project then also addressed degradation problems through the study of rainwater disposal, with the aim of strengthening the integrity of the shrine while keeping its image unaltered.

The actual intervention concerned first of all the great staircase, whose paving, made of cast-in-place concrete, was restored by replacing the most damaged elements, bonding the flakes that were becoming detached, cleaning the surface, and applying consolidating treatments. The bronze slabs enclosing the niches where the fallen are buried were disassembled, cleaned and integrated with new stainless steel support elements. Conservation work in the areas of the Piazzale and Via Eroica involved cleaning the stone pavement and replacing damaged slabs. Finally, the restoration work involved the creation of new concrete tiles with the names of the fallen soldiers, the cleaning and restoration of the inscriptions, the restoration of the braziers placed on the sides of the Shrine, and the arrangement of the visitor reception areas, including the toilets and the water and electrical system.