Forte Presanella

The Italians called it the Pozzi Alti fort. It stands at 1,880 metres on the right side of the valley, above Velon di Vermiglio, about eight kilometres by road from the hamlet. It was part of the Tonale barrier, together with the Tonale, Mero and Strino forts: they were meant to close the road that runs down from the pass through the Val di Vermiglio and the Val di Sole towards the Adige, that is, behind the fortress of Trento.

It was completed in 1912, armed with three 100 millimetre howitzers in rotating armoured cupolas, two 80 guns in a casemate and an armoured observation cupola; above the fort a high wall protected it from avalanches. It was already out of date, however: the design was the same as that of the Verle and Luserna forts, on the plateaus, and in the meantime artillery had made advances that its plans did not know.

In the Great War it was bombarded for the whole duration of the conflict by the Italian batteries of Ponte di Legno and the Val Seria. The 149 guns did not scratch it; from 23 August 1915 the 305 howitzers arrived, and a few direct hits were enough to cause serious damage, because the fort stood exposed on a spur, like a medieval castle. At the end of that month the guns were dismantled and moved to field positions, but the fort remained garrisoned: in June 1918, during Operation Valanga, it was the headquarters of the first infantry division. In all it received about 450 shells. In recent years it has been partly restored.