Monte Verena, Mountain summit in Veneto, Italy
Monte Verena is a mountain peak in the Venetian Prealps in Veneto, with a rocky north face and gentler slopes on the southern side. At the very top stands Forte Verena, a military fort from World War I that gives the summit its character.
Monte Verena became a key military position during World War I, when guns at Forte Verena fired the first Italian shots of the war on May 24, 1915. The slopes around the peak saw years of fighting between Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces.
Forte Verena at the top is one of the few forts in this area that visitors can walk through and explore directly. The stone walls and gun emplacements give a clear sense of how soldiers lived and operated at this altitude.
A road leads to Rifugio Verenetta, where there is parking and marked trails head up toward the summit from different directions. The southern slopes are also used for skiing in winter, so the mountain sees visitors in both seasons.
The cannon shot fired from Forte Verena on May 24, 1915 is officially recorded as the first shot fired by the Italian army in World War I. This makes the summit one of the most symbolically loaded sites of that war in the whole country.
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