Monte Grappa tu sei la mia patria

Monte Grappa WW1 shelter reimagined by Cities and Memory.

Walking around inside a shelter carved from the very rock of the mountain was a humbling experience, thinking of the incredible hardship enduring during the Great War in the mountains, and the effort that had to go into creating a supply line. 

As a sonic tribute, the recording is blended with La Canzone del Grappa ('Mount Grappa'), a song composed in August 1918 by Captain Antonio Meneghetti as we make our way around the shelter, fading at the end as we reemerge into the misty daylight.

Here are the lyrics, in both Italian and English.

La Canzone del Grappa

Monte Grappa tu sei la mia patria,
sovra a te il nostro sole risplende,
a te mira chi spera ed attende
i fratelli che a guardia vi stan.

Contra a te già s'infranse il nemico,
che all'Italia tendeva lo sguardo:
non si passa un cotal baluardo
affidato ad italici cuor.

Monte Grappa tu sei la mia patria,
sei la stella che addita il cammino,
sei la gloria, il volere, il destino,
che all'Italia ci fa ritornar.

Le tue cime fur sempre vietate
per il piè dell'odiato straniero
dei tuoi fianchi egli ignora il sentiero
che pugnando più volte tentò.

Qual la candida neve che al verno
ti ricopre di splendido ammanto,
tu sei puro ed invitto col vanto
che il nemico non lasci passar.

Monte Grappa tu sei la mia patria...

O montagna per noi tu sei sacra
giù di lì scenderanno le schiere
che irrompenti a spiegate bandiere
l'invasore dovranno scacciar.

Ed i giorni del nostro servaggio
che scontammo mordendo nel freno,
in un forte avvenire sereno
noi ben presto vedremo mutar.

Monte Grappa tu sei la mia patria...

English Translation - Mount Grappa

Mount Grappa you are my motherland
our sun shines over you
Those who hope and wait they look at you
they look at the brothers at guard on you

The enemy's already broken against you,
he who already aimed to Italy
no one can pass such a bulwark
put in charge to Italian hearts.

Mount Grappa you are my motherland,
you are the star showing the way
you are the glory, the will, the destiny,
that makes us remembering Italy

Your peaks were always banned
to the foot of the hated foreigner
he doesn't know the way on your flanks
that he tried to fight out.

Like the snow that in winter covers you
with a white mantel so you are pure
and undefeated with the pride of having
never let the enemy pass.

Mount Grappa you are my motherland...

O mountain, you are sacred to us
the stormy ranks, with flags
raised will descend from you
to drive out the enemy

We will soon see the days
of our servitude, that we
endured with great efforts,
change in a serene future.

Mount Grappa you are my motherland...