Cemetery of Heroes
Guida Aquileia
- Location: Cemetery of Heroes
- Address: Piazza Capitolo 1
- Opening: From march to september: 9am-7pm
October: 9am-6pm
From november to february: 9am-5pm
Laurel shrubs and cypresses surround the Tomb of the Ten Unknown Soldiers, who fell on the front during the Great War. The body of an eleventh soldier was chosen by the mother Maria Bergamas in the basilica, during a solemn ceremony held on October 28, 1921 (this year is therefore the centenary). It was transported by train from Aquileia to Rome and buried on 4 November at the Vittoriano.
Designed by the architect Guido Cirilli, the Aquileian monument consists of an altar and an arcosolium facing the Carso. On clearer days, it is possible to see from here the plateau which was the scene of long and bloody battles during the First World War.
At the foot of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers is the funeral monument of Maria Bergamas: her son Antonio, initially enlisted in the Austrian army, deserted to fight in the Italian ranks and fell in 1916 under a barrage of machine guns while leading his platoon to the attack. His body was never found.
An authentic treasure trove of memories, the war cemetery of Aquileia also houses the burial of Giovanni Randaccio, infantry captain during the First World War and companion of Gabriele D'Annunzio in the battles of the Isonzo. Randaccio died on May 28, 1917 while he was trying to hoist the flag on the Duino castle, near the Timavo river.
It was D'Annunzio himself, who inspired the fatal action, who dictated the captain's epitaph: "Vitam dedit Timavo" ("He gave his life to Timavo"), a paraphrase of a famous Latin inscription kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia.
Designed by the architect Guido Cirilli, the Aquileian monument consists of an altar and an arcosolium facing the Carso. On clearer days, it is possible to see from here the plateau which was the scene of long and bloody battles during the First World War.
At the foot of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers is the funeral monument of Maria Bergamas: her son Antonio, initially enlisted in the Austrian army, deserted to fight in the Italian ranks and fell in 1916 under a barrage of machine guns while leading his platoon to the attack. His body was never found.
An authentic treasure trove of memories, the war cemetery of Aquileia also houses the burial of Giovanni Randaccio, infantry captain during the First World War and companion of Gabriele D'Annunzio in the battles of the Isonzo. Randaccio died on May 28, 1917 while he was trying to hoist the flag on the Duino castle, near the Timavo river.
It was D'Annunzio himself, who inspired the fatal action, who dictated the captain's epitaph: "Vitam dedit Timavo" ("He gave his life to Timavo"), a paraphrase of a famous Latin inscription kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia.
