The Third Army Cemetery of the Invited on the hill of S. Elia was consecrated on May 24, 1923 in the presence of the highest officials of the Kingdom, the most important military authorities and a huge crowd of veterans. It, in fact, constituted the Italian response to the urgent need to assign a first dignified burial to the fallen, in this specific case to the tens of thousands of Third Army fighters who died on the Carso which, at the end of the conflict, appeared as an infinite field cemetery.

Exceptional from a conceptual point of view, shocking in its impact, highly original in its form, powerfully evocative of the karst battlefield, grandiose in both intent and capacity, the necropolis built on the S. Elia hill represented a unicum in terms of military funerary architecture. Until 1937, the year of its decommissioning in favor of the hieratic staircase of the Redipuglia military shrine, the one at the “Invitti” was one of the essential stops for patriotic-veterans tourism, a phenomenon that developed in particular in the XNUMXs and XNUMXs, bringing hundreds of thousands of men and women from all over Italy on a “pilgrimage” to Redipuglia.

For the necklace “War Archaeology”, Marco Mantini's book “Viaggio nell'Ade karsica” investigates the genesis, the transformations, the popular frequentation, the iconography and, finally, the decline of the Cemetery of the Invincibles of the Third Army, built on the Karst for those who had fallen on the Karst and to be visited on one's knees and with one's mind turned to Heaven as it was written on a postcard of the time.

Mark Mantini, Journey to the Karst Hades. The Cemetery of the Invictus of the Third Army on the Hill of St. Elias, Gaspari, Udine 2023.

The Author: Marco Mantini (Gorizia, 1966) collaborates with various Italian and Slovenian institutions and associations in the field of historical research and the recovery of the material memory of the First World War on the Isonzo front. In the publishing field, he is the author of historical-hiking guides and historical essays. For Gaspari he has published: From Tolmino to Caporetto. The routes of the Great War between Italy and Slovenia (I, II ed.); Travelling in History. From the Adriatic to the Monte Croce Carnico pass; The story of the signs of the Great War; The Monumental Area of ​​Mount San Michele. From theatre of war to landscape of memory; The Monumental Area of ​​Mount Sabotino. History and memory of the extraordinary fortress on the Isonzo; with S. Stok: The trench routes on the Isonzo II and III front.

Centenary of the Consecration of the “Invitti della Terza Armata” Cemetery 1923-2023
Colle S. Elia – Fogliano Redipuglia/San Pier d'Isonzo

Wednesday May 24

19:00 pm – commemorative moment at the base of the access to the Hill.
Historical introduction and institutional interventions.
Along the road that leads to Colle S. Elia, thematic readings on the event and historical contextualization.
On Colle S. Elia harp pieces by Ester Pavlic.

Friday May 26th

18:30 pm exclusive presentation on the Piazzale Atleti Azzurri d'Italia of the book by Marco Mantini, who will be in conversation with the historian Marco Cimmino: JOURNEY IN THE CARSICA HADE The Cemetery of the Invincibles of the Third Army on the S. Elia Hill (Gaspari publisher). The speakers will be introduced by the journalist Ivan Bianchi.

In case of bad weather the book presentation will be held in San Pier d'Isonzo at the council chamber (via Roma 39).

On the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia square, a temporary philatelic service will be set up on Friday 26 May, starting at 14:30 pm, for the cancellation, created by the Pro Loco on vintage postcards, re-proposed in a very limited number to commemorate the Centenary.