entry
2016
Monte Soratte
— from bunker to German High Command to museum
Monte Soratte is a
mountain ridge (pictured) in the province of Rome,
45 km (28 miles) north of the city of Rome. It is a
narrow, isolated limestone ridge 5.5 km (3.4 mi)
long with six peaks, the highest of which is 691 m
(2267 feet) above sea level. It is the only notable
ridge in the Tiber Valley. In the late 1930s, war
was looming and Mussolini decided to build a
bunker/stronghold at Monte Soratte, near the town of
Sant'Oreste, for high-ranking members of the
government and Italian military in case of air-raids
against Rome. Construction started in the autumn of
1937 under the guise of building a munitions
factory. The work was finished and equipped in 4½
years. The
dimensions were impressive: 4 km of tunnels spread
over three levels; total volume, 65,000 cubic
meters; and 315 meters deep in some sections.
The
site functioned as an Italian military installation
in World War II until September 8, 1943, when Italy
brokered a separate peace and officially surrendered
to the Allies. At that point, Italy's former ally,
Germany, became its enemy and launched Operation
Achse, the disarming of Italian armed forces, part
of which involved taking over the Monte Soratte
facility, which they did; German Field Marshal
Albert Kesselring then moved his headquarters from
Frascati to this impenetrable bunker in Monte
Soratte. The site became the German High Command for
Southern Europe and served as such from Sept. 13,
1943 to June 3, 1944, during which time it
successfully withstood allied air raids. This
command post was the point from which Kesselring
directed the German defenses against the Allied
advance up the boot of Italy after the invasion at
Salerno in late September, 1943 —the
infamous approach up the
Liri valley on the way to Monte Cassino and
Rome. When the
Germans withdrew to the north in June of 1944, they
unsuccessfully tried to “blow” the bunker. Damage
was minimal.Post-war
Between 1952 and 1962, the Italian army again utilized the bunker as a powder magazines. In 1963 the Soratte bunker was equipped to house high government officials to insure the survival of the nation in the case of an atomic bombing of Rome. That work went on until 1972. Further work was projected into the 1980s. The site was abandoned in 1989. The nearest local community, Sant'Oreste, is sponsoring (with European funding) the conversion of the entire Soratte bunker complex into a museum. It is currently available for limited visits by groups.
There are extensive natural karst caves in the area that appeal to spelunkers (see this link). They are potentially very dangerous due to the presence of unexploded munitions left over from WW2. Don't be an idiot. Ask around. Go with a guide.
photo, top
right: Croberto68, Wikipedia
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