Surrounding mountains of the Little Dolomites are framed by a rock opening along the Strada delle 52 Gallerie on Italy’s Mount Pasubio. Some hikers on the popular tunnel trail have not been practicing “leave no trace” principles, and reports of human waste, foul odors and litter have prompted the town of Valli del Pasubio to plan a September cleanup of the 4-mile trail. (Anna Ciccotti/U.S. Army)
VICENZA, Italy — Hikers traversing dozens of tunnels the Italian army cut into Mount Pasubio during World War I have been leaving traces, even dropping whole loads, according to Italian media.
Tourists flocking to the Road of 52 Tunnels, as it’s known in English, are leaving behind feces, tissues and the resulting odors, said Renato Leonardi, the longtime manager of an alpine lodge at the end of the trail, speaking to the online news outlet Il Dolomiti.
A feat of military engineering, the route and its tunnels, known in Italian as Strada delle 52 Gallerie, were carved into the southern slope of the Pasubio massif in the Venetian Prealps in less than a year in 1917. The goal: create a supply line protected from Austro-Hungarian artillery fire.
In recent years, the scenic views of the Little Dolomites and sheer cliffs of the trail have drawn 1,000 to 1,500 visitors a day on peak-season weekends, according to media reports.
One YouTuber complained on a Facebook group about recently encountering the “smell of death” at the entrances to at least three tunnels as he and some friends hiked up to the lodge for dinner.
“As we walked through them, we noticed several mounds of rocks on the sides (not even inside the niches, but directly in the tunnel) covering fresh feces with the classic white handkerchief,” wrote Umberto Uderzo, whose YouTube channel features videos of his hikes and climbs. “In some places, they were almost equidistant, as if the artists had even agreed upon a plan.”
Uderzo suggested that while he understands how the urge can strike at inopportune moments, it would be more appropriate to go elsewhere out of respect for those who built the tunnels.
U.S. soldiers gather at a sign marking the Strada delle 52 Gallerie trailhead near Vicenza, Italy. The popular tunnel trail has begun to take on a stench in places as a result of human waste and litter, prompting some Italians to speak out. (Anna Ciccotti/U.S. Army)
To help with the problem, Leonardi allows visitors to freely use the restroom at his business, the Rifugio Generale Achille Papa, named after an Italian war hero slain during WWI.
The establishment features a bar and accommodations for trekkers at over 6,300 feet near the Porte del Pasubio mountain pass.
News of the gross grottos comes amid a severe lack of rain in the region, which has reportedly forced some lodges like his to limit services. Leonardi’s lodge announced Friday that because of the water shortage it would be closed to new bookings for overnight stays and its restaurant would only serve guests, though the bar on the ground floor would remain open.
Located about an hour’s drive northwest of Vicenza, a hub of U.S. Army activity in northern Italy, the route has been the site of at least one “staff ride,” an excursion in which soldiers learn about warfare by visiting the terrain of historic battles.
Nearly two dozen soldiers hiked the path “to learn more about the area declared to be sacred soil because of the cruel battles” that occurred there, according to a caption on photos the Vicenza-based U.S. Army Garrison Italy posted on Flickr in 2018.
They observed trenches, shelters, tunnels and other passages, the caption said, noting that the surface of the plateau atop the Pasubio massif is still pocked with bomb craters about a century after the war’s end.
Clouds fill the valley below Mount Pasubio along the Strada delle 52 Gallerie, a World War I mule trail near Vicenza, Italy, Oct. 12, 2019. Reports of human waste, foul odors and litter have prompted the town of Valli del Pasubio to plan a September cleanup of the 4-mile trail. (Robert Wormley/U.S. Army)
Soldiers from the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) joined with members of the Vicenza Alpini Group for an annual cleanup of the tunnels and route, another set of garrison photos on Flickr show.
Though Leonardi suggested the No. 2’s left behind are a byproduct of an increase in foot traffic up the mountain, he thinks it begins downhill, where another bar with restrooms near a parking lot at the start of the trail is not always open.
“There are no other restrooms or other facilities, but people need them, and so despite the sacredness and historical value of the trail, they use them wherever they can,” Leonardi said, according to a machine translation.
But while Leonardi advocated for adding portable toilets at the trailhead, Gianvalerio Piva, mayor of nearby Valli del Pasubio told the outlet that these would not be the solution.
The community and the alpine club conduct regular cleanups, including one a month before the trail opened for the season, Piva said. The town is now organizing another cleanup in September.
But the community cannot install bathrooms on the mountains or put out waste bins, he said.
“Those who ascend must carry their waste back down,” he told Il Dolomiti.