Anyone who has entered Camping Mediterraneo, even if only for a day visit, has certainly noticed the imposing military structure located to the left of the reception. Batteria San Marco in fact is part of a complex of fortifications located on the Cavallino peninsula, designed to defend the country from the enemy at the time of the First World War.

Fortunately, only the memory of those dark times has remained today and the military fortifications of Cavallino-Treporti have been turned into museums and artists’ hangouts, surrounded by lush vegetation and immersed in the tranquillity that today marks the life of our seaside town.

The memories of the past, however, must be preserved, to remember what our predecessors did to guarantee us freedom and democracy today. And of course, as a warning to avoid a repetition of the horrors committed in the past.

For this reason Professor Piero Santostefano, by now well-known historian of Cavallino-Treporti, presented his latest book “Batteria San Marco – Camping Village Mediterraneo” on Friday 4th September at the Parco della Memoria, which retraces the events of the fortification adjacent to our village. It is also the nineteenth book published in Cavallino-Treporti and concerns the historical events of the coastal town, today the European capital of open-air tourism.

The history of the Battery is interwoven with the personal stories of the soldiers who spent the months of the conflict inside it. Together with them, the memories of the refugee of many families and the letters sent by their children who anxiously awaited the possibility of returning to Cavallino.

Professor Santostefano read the most salient parts concerning the events of the fortification. The presentation was also attended by Egidio Bergamo, who introduced the author by talking about the fruitful collaboration with the journalist Furio Lazzarini, and Mrs. Sandra Martin, niece of the soldier Alessandro Martin, whose war events are narrated in the text.

Among the pages of the book, available at the Camping Village Mediterraneo info-point, the historical reconstruction is alternated with period photographs and works of art of the early twentieth century, to allow the reader to fully immerse himself in the atmosphere of the Great War. It is an essay that explores and shows all aspects of the conflict, right down to the precise description of the uniforms of the military sector. If on the one hand these rigid exhibitions make us perceive all the harshness of the historical period, thanks to Sandra’s story we enter instead into the narrative part of the presentation, with the memories and letters of her grandfather engaged at the front. There is no lack of moments of emotion and reflection on how much past generations have lived, allowing us to appreciate more what we fought hard for in the last century: freedom.