War memorials

Italy: Tempio-Sacrario, Bassano del Grappa

Architect: Vincenzo Rinaldo & Pietro Del Fabro
Location: Bassano del Grappa

The Tempio-Sacrario, situated in the Piazza Cadorna, began as a new cathedral for the town designed in Venetian Gothic in 1906 by the Venetian architect Vincenzo Rinaldo. Work resumed on its construction after 1918 but now in conjunction with the Commissariato per le Onoranze ai Caduti in Guerra and under the direction of the architect Pietro Del Fabro of Treviso in order to create a military ossuary. The building, with a crypt containing the remains of 5,408 Italian soldiers, was inaugurated in 1934. In the Piazzale Giordino is a memorial to General Gaetano Giardino, put in command of the “Army of the Grappa” in April 1918 and who defended Monte Grappa in the Battle of the Solstice and lead the attack at Vittorio Veneto; the sculptor of the stocky figure of Giardino was Borelli.

Gavin Stamp