It is a sunny and fresh Wednesday on which we are participants of a new adventure here in Cavallino-Treporti. Today we take a special way of transport for a historical and cultural tour of the country that hosts us: it is a blue train, similar to the one that runs every evening through the streets of Camping Mediterraneo, commonly known as the “Trenino delle Batterie“.

The train is part of the seasonal public service provided by the company Atvo, which manages scheduled services to the coast.

Out of the colourful wagons, we greet the tourists on their bikes and the residents we meet on the road, before entering a quieter road completely surrounded by cultivated fields. After a few meters we reach the first stop: it is the Amalfi battery, located in the village of Punta Sabbioni. But what exactly are these batteries that we are going to visit today?

Those are old military fortifications built to create a massive coastal defence system around Venice during the First World War. The Amalfi battery, for example, was built between September 1915 and May 1917 and inaugurated by Vittorio Emanuele II! Even today, the building is very impressive, but completely empty inside, and the silence that hovers around us is far from the disturbing climate of the past. Surrounded by greenery and the tranquillity of nature, the Amalfi battery has become a meeting place for artists who gather in front of the battery to make sketches and portraits in their free time.

Let’s go to the next destination, perhaps the most beautiful and well maintained battery of Cavallino: It is the Pisani that has become a museum today. Inside there are finds, testimonies and photographs from the First World War, which meander in the form of an educational trail through the imposing halls of the building, memories that have been carved forever in the history of our coast, so that the horrors of the past are not forgotten.

Unfortunately, the time available is too short to allow us a full visit to the Pisani battery, so that we continue by blue train to reach our last destination, the Radaelli battery. Like sisters, Amalfi and Pisani are surrounded by greenery and are located in the village of San Paolo, which sets them into the pleasant context of a holiday village, just like the San Marco Battery, that is located inside the Camping Mediterraneo!

Batteria Radaelli has got its name from a brave bishop of frigate, Carlo Radaelli, and was built between 1909 and 1914: Although it is older than Amalfi and Pisani, it seems to be the least damaged one by the time.

All the batteries remain open and can be visited during the summer, except for the Radaelli, which remains open even until November.

On our return to the campsite we are aware that we have discovered another detail of this incredible country: fortunately, where once one breathed air of fear and tension, today pervades a climate of vacation, relaxation and lightheartedness.

Translation into English by Teresa Uhlig