Forte della Chiusa, also known as Straßensperre Chiusa, is a fort built by the army between 1849 and 1851 as a barrier on the passage through the Adige in the chiusa of Ceraino, in the municipality of Dolcè. Although a Venetian fortification had existed at the site for a long time, the current fort was constructed as an Austrian fort between 1849 and 1852.
The fort was armed with twelve pieces of field artillery. When the Veneto region passed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1866, the fort passed under the control of the Royal Army, which armed it with only two pieces of artillery, though it remained in operation due to its strategic position. In 1960, it was partially brutally demolished to allow the enlargement of state road 12 of the Abetone and the Brennero, which passes through it.
The barrier consisted of casemates on two floors. The road and the railway passed through a vault whose opening could become a cannon port. The lower floor featured 4 gunports, while the upper floor had 8. The road passage had gates and drawbridges from both sides. At ground level, there was a fountain supplied by a canal from the Adige. Today, only some abandoned ruins of the fort remain.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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