Grotta del Monte Querceto

Grotta del Motore - Pejca na Grmadi


Useful Information

photography
View to the Mediterranean Sea. Monte Ermada, Slovenia/Italy.
photography
World War I remains. Monte Ermada, Slovenia/Italy.
Location: Walking trails from Brestovica pri Komnu in Slovenia and Medeazza or Ceroglie in Italy.
(45.79567485945732, 13.63180159792729)
Open: no restrictions.
[2021]
Fee: free.
[2021]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst Cave TopicWorld War I
Light: bring torch
Dimension:  
Guided tours: self guided
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography: Franco Gherlizza (2011): Grotte di guerra sul Carso, Itinerari ipogei in alcune grotte della Grande Guerra sul Carso triestino e goriziano. 112 pagine a colori - stampa tipografica - Trieste, 2011. Edito da "La Biblioteca del Piccolo" - Editoriale FVG spa. Italiano - Italian pdf
Address: Museo all'Aperto del Monte Ermada, Ceroglie, Duino-Aurisina, 34011 Duino-Aurisina TS, Tel: +39-04313-87130.
Gruppo Speleologico Flondar, Villaggio del Pescatore, 102, I-34013 Duino Aurisina (TS), Tel: +39-040-209075-208853, Cell: +39-339-6908950.
Trieste Infopoint, via dell'Orologio, 1 (angolo Piazza Unità d'Italia), I-34121 Trieste, Tel: +39-040-3478312, Fax: +39-040-3478320. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

World War I part of the Austro-Hungarian fortifications.

Description

Grotta del Monte Querceto (Mt. Querceto Cave) is also known as Grotta del Motore (Generator Cave). It was primarily used for the installation of generators to produce electricity for the bunkers, but also for the flood lights used during the night. It can be entered through an artificial entrance, which is quite wide because it was used to bring the generators into the cave. The passage behind is even wider, with two rock-cut niches which accommodated an underground control room and the military personnel in charge of operations. At the end of the corridor the remains of a staircase once led to the natural entrance. A pile of bricks is the collapsed dry-stone chimney which was erected to transport the generator fumes out of the cave.

This cave is part of the Museo all'aperto del Monte Ermada (Open-air Museum of Mt. Ermada). It is a trail at the southern slope of Monte Ermada (Trench Hill, 323 m asl), between the villages Medeazza and Ceroglie. It shows the defensive line fortified in September 1916 following the 6th Battle of the Isonzo. The Italian victory had forced the Habsburg Imperial Army to abandon Monfalcone and move to this hill. The great Italian victory, which cost ten thousands of lives, changed the frontier by 6 km.

Mt. Ermada and the surrounding hilltops had massive strategic and practical advantages. They could control both the Valley of Brestovizza (Brestovica Dol, now part of Slovenia) and the passage to Trieste. Trenches, observation posts, and bunkers for soldiers were built in no time, creating an insurmountable barrier for the Italians. The sinkholes and the natural caves of the Karst Plateau were perfectly adapted to the needs of the war. All assaults by the Italian Third Army between the 8th and 10th Battle of the Isonzo were rejected. In the 10th battle alone 36.000 Italian soldiers were dead, 124.000 wounded or prisoner of war, on Austrian side 17.000 soldiers were dead, 108.000 wounded or prisoner of war.