Monte San Michele () is a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

on the

Karst Plateau The Karst Plateau or the Karst region (, ), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the val ...

, in the Italian

province of Gorizia The province of Gorizia (; ; ) was a province in the autonomous Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Initially disbanded on 30 September 2017, it was reestablished in 2019 as the regional decentralization entity of Gorizia (; ; ), and was reacti ...

, on the border between the municipalities of Sagrado () and Savogna d'Isonzo (). It is located eight kilometres southwest of

Gorizia Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...

, on the left bank of the Isonzo, and has four peaks, the highest two of which ( and ) have an elevation of 275 meters above sea level, while the lowest () has an elevation of 237 meters, and stands at 264 meters. Due to its commanding position over the lower Isonzo valley and the plain of Gorizia, it was the theatre of heavy fighting during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

; along with Sabotin and Podgora, the San Michele was one of the main bulwarks of the Austro-Hungarian defense of Gorizia during the early

battles of the Isonzo The Battles of the Isonzo (also known as the Isonzo Front by historians, or the Soča Front - ) were a series of twelve battles between the Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian and Italian armies in World War I mostly on the territory of present-d ...

, heavily fortified with multiple

trench A trench is a type of digging, excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale (landform), swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or trapping ...

es,

barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire or bob wire (in the Southern and Southwestern United States), is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the ...

, heavy

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

, tunnels and machine-gun posts. It was one of the most bitterly contested heights on the Karst during the first six

; during the second battle of the Isonzo, in July 1915, it was twice captured by Italian troops, and twice recaptured by Austro-Hungarian counterattacks. Partial gains were made during the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and fourth battle of Isonzo. WWI - Monte San Michele - 29th June 1916 Italian casualties after a gas attack

On 29 June 1916 the San Michele was the location of the first use of

poison gas Many gases have toxic properties, which are often assessed using the LC50 (median lethal concentration) measure. In the United States, many of these gases have been assigned an NFPA 704 health rating of 4 (may be fatal) or 3 (may cause serious ...

on the Italian Front, when the Austro-Hungarian released a mix of

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...

and

phosgene Phosgene is an organic chemical compound with the formula . It is a toxic, colorless gas; in low concentrations, its musty odor resembles that of freshly cut hay or grass. It can be thought of chemically as the double acyl chloride analog of ...

which killed 2,700 Italian troops and poisoned another 4,000 (additionally, some 250 Austro-Hungarians were killed, and 1,500 poisoned, due to a change in the wind that blew some of the gas back towards the Austro-Hungarian lines). The San Michele was finally secured by the Italian XI Corps (General Giorgio Cigliana) in August 1916, during the sixth battle of Isonzo. Poet Giuseppe Ungaretti fought on the San Michele, which he mentioned in some of the poems collected in ''Allegria di naufragi''. In 1922 the San Michele was declared a "monumental area", and turned into an

open-air museum An open-air museum is a museum that exhibits collections of buildings and artifacts outdoors. It is also frequently known as a museum of buildings or a folk museum. Definition Open air is "the unconfined atmosphere ... outside buildings" ...

. A World War I museum is located near Cima Tre.Museo all’aperto del Monte San Michele e San Martino del Carso
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References

{{reflist Landforms of Friuli-Venezia Giulia Karst Mountains of the Alps Hills of Italy Military history of Italy during World War I