ABSTRACT
During World War I, particularly in the years 1915–1917, all along the Austrian-Italian Front spreading from eastern Lombardy to the Gulf of Trieste, many intense tunnel works were on going for diverse military purposes. Some of these underground activities, many of which are nowadays well preserved and can be visited thanks to the constant effort in conservation and restoration by the local Authorities, are impressive if one thinks of the difficult environmental conditions in which they were built and the technical challenges of the operations. A remarkable literature exists on this subject from the historical and biographical point of view. This paper, instead, focuses on technical and technological aspects, on material resources, manpower, design and construction means and methods used to build tunnels that today seem extraordinary in relation to the period in which they were completed and to the difficulties encountered during the execution.
