Memories of War: Fort Casa Ratti, or rather its galleries

Fort Casa Ratti was built between 1906 and 1908 in the Astico Valley (on the right bank of the Astico river), just 350 meters above sea level, near the small village of "case Ratti" (part of the Arsiero municipality), after which it was named. Its task was to defend the Arsiero area and the access to the Vicenza plain; together with the nearby Fort Corbin, Casa Ratti was to bar the pass to a possible enemy advance from the upper Astico Valley. The fort was part of the Agno-Assa Barrage, Sector III (Asiago).

The fort was armed with three 149 mm cast-iron guns, housed in rotating armored cupolas, Ispettorato type (4 cm thick); there were also four 87/98 mm bronze guns, five machine guns (three in armored turrets and two in casemate) and several positions for riflemen for close defense.

It still was a smaller and "spartan" fort than the nearby Corbin and other forts built on the plateau in the following years (Verena, Campolongo, Enna), so that it was sometimes called a "permanent armored battery" rather than a "real" fortress; unlike the latter, it was not provided with an internal infantry garrison and there were no rooms to house it, nor a permanent line for rifle fire. Having been built a few years before the other above mentioned fortresses, Casa Ratti, compared to them, had various deficiencies: it was a compromise between the construction technique in squared stone, used until then, and the concrete that was becoming the new method; the powder magazines were outside the fort and too far, service communications were not sheltered, and there were few means for close defense.

Like other forts, at the outbreak of the war Casa Ratti was too far from the front line to participate in the operations; however, it was not disarmed. In 1916 the garrison consisted of 67 artillerymen of a fortress artillery section, plus one Guardia di Finanza company. The fort commander was Lt. Croce.

Its baptism of fire took place on May 17, 1916, with the beginning of the "Strafexpedition": a 380 mm Austro-Hungarian howitzer ( "Barbara"), stationed on the Cost'Alta ridge at Monterovere, Lavarone (12.5 km away, and 1000 meters higher), began to bombard the fort. The fire was directed by the Wiatz stronghold, near Fort Lusern, from where the cupolas of the Italian fort could be seen. On May 17, from 7:30 to 11:20, "Barbara" fired 20 shells at Casa Ratti; on May 19, both "Barbara" and another 420-mm howitzer fired on the fort, together; on May 21, from 6:45 to 7:45, "Barbara" fired three shots at Casa Ratti, and two more at 4:30 on May 24; on May 25, finally, the fort was bombarded with six more shells.

Fort Casa Ratti, however, was built in a tight angle with respect to the artillery fire coming from the area of Lavarone, so it did not suffer major damage: only a 380 mm shell actually hit the main battery block. A few days later, however, with the enemy advance in the area, the fort became untenable - for its location, the enemy advance, the aforementioned deficiencies as well as the scarcity of supplies of food and water shortages - and orders were given to abandon it and blow it up to avoid its capture.

The order was given by Lieutenant Colonel S. Martino on May 25, 1916, and confirmed on the same day; the shutters of the three 149 mm guns were removed to make them unusable, then the bulk of the garrison withdrew, leaving behind a small rear-guard (Lieutenant Soldini the Army Corps of Engineers and five soldiers) tasked with preparing and activating the explosive charges, placed in the powder magazines, in the cupolas and in the machinery room. A Romanian patrol of the 50th Infantry Regiment (led by officer cadet Cisteianu), sent ahead for reconnaissance, however, surprised and disarmed the Italian rearguard before it could activate the charges; Fort Casa Ratti thus fell intact into enemy hands. It was May 26, 1916.

According to one version, in the month in which it remained in the hands of the Austro-Hungarians, the fort fired on the Italian positions.

On June 25, 1916, with the retreat of the Austro-Hungarian troops at the end of "Strafexpedition" Fort Casa Ratti was mined again by the Austro-Hungarians, and, this time, was blown up for good. The operation was performed by Lieutenant of Engineers Albin Mlaker, with eight tons of gun powder and 200 kg of ecrasite; the armored cupolas and the machine guns turrets were projected into the air for dozens of meters by the force of the explosion.

Unlike the other Italian fortresses of the plateau, Casa Ratti was not affected by cleaning and restoration work in recent years: to date, the fort is a overgrown heap of ruins, and in summer the vegetation makes it practically inaccessible .

Along the access road to the fort there are shelter tunnels dug by Italian troops, who left their friezes on them.