A night at the Gemona Battalion Refuge, a century-old military chapel at 1,890 meters

During the First World War, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire fought bloody battles on a very tough front: the Alps.

The impressive climb to two remote mountain huts in the Dolomite Alps
The surprising Capanna Regina Margherita, the highest mountain refuge in Europe

The Alpine front was one of the most brutal stages of that war. Today, numerous ruins of old military positions from both sides remain there, silent witnesses to the horrors experienced there. One of these old positions was manned by the "Gemona" Alpine Battalion of the Italian Army, founded in 1887 and which fought in Val Dogna, in the Julian Alps, during the Great War.

In that mountainous area of ​​northeastern Italy, the Gemona Battalion held a position at 1,890 meters above sea level, consisting of several buildings and a small stone chapel used as a place of prayer. Today, the entire position is in ruins except for the old chapel, which was renovated into a mountain refuge. A few months ago, Austrian-based el montañero Steve Bergermountaineer Steve Berger posted a video in which he climbs to the refuge and spends a night there:

You can see some screenshots from this video here. We start with one of the spectacular alpine landscapes we see in this video:

Here we see the interior of the refuge, which is very well equipped and maintained. Italy has a long tradition of mountaineering, and the country's mountain refuges are truly admirable.

Sunrise in the Julian Alps. The video has very beautiful shots recorded in time lapse and also with a drone.

Here we see the ruins of the former position of the "Gemona" Alpine Battalion, with the chapel at the top.