On October 26, 1917, the Italian army collapsed at Caporetto : Italy had not lost a battle, but had lost the war: the entire Friuli and the eastern Veneto occupied by enemy armies; the Italian army completely disintegrated. It was not so. The army lined up on river Piave, and from that line could not retreat. On the front also came the famous “ ragazzi del 99”, boys born in 1899. General Diaz , who replaced General Cadorna , restored confidence to the troops. The Italian army was now firmly lined up on river Piave, and ready to defend themselves to the last man. The Allies , British, French , Czechs , Americans, lined up on the shore of river Adige , because they were convinced that the line of the Piave river would collapse. It was not so. The Italian troops were able to resist the strong Austrian attacks in June 1918. After this heroic resistance, the army began to prepare for the big offensive. So, October 24, 1918, has been launched the full-scale offensive. It was the great Battle of Vittorio Veneto.After 5 days of hard battles the Austro-Hungarian army was forced to withdraw up to Vittorio Veneto: October 30th the city was liberated.
The town of Vittorio Veneto was the center of a great and glorious historical event! Many open-air museums, that show how tough and tragic was the trench warfare, are just a short trip by car, and also many WW1 memorial monuments and cemeteries in honor of the fallen soldiers of different nationalities. Vittorio Veneto is centrally located for touring the trenches of the Great War and also to monuments, memorials and WW1 cemeteries. It is also central for visits to Venice, to the art cities of Veneto and to the Dolomites, for this reason is the city most suitable for a week's holiday, where you can book and rent an apartment, a house, a villa countryside Venice and near the Dolomites
Vittorio Veneto has suffered a harsh military occupation by German Army as well by Austrian Army; the citizens were forced to a difficult cohabitation with troops of different nationalities.
The famous beautiful palazzi and villas of Vittorio Veneto had been requisitioned by the commands of the German and Austro-Hungarian Armies, which occupied them for a whole year, since the defeat at the Battle of Caporetto up to the victory of the river Piave.