The hamlet of Visinale (Municipality of Corno di Rosazzo) is located along road SS356 connecting Cividale del Friuli to Cormons, near the Judrio River. Half legend half true story, here you can see a stone in memory of the first shot in the Great War, allegedly fired by an Italian soldier on the night of 23rd May 1915. The monument is located at the intersection of road SS356 and streets Primo Maggio and Pio Paschini.
The stele consists of a bas-relief in metal and a memorial stone recounting the events of that night. The engraved scene represents a soldier shooting with a rifle, supported by a god of war behind him. The plaque instead tells the story of two Custom officers who, after becoming suspicious of some movements near the bridge on the Judrio River (the border back then), fired some shots in the direction of Brazzano. Some Austro-Hungarian soldiers had tried to mine the bridge but those shots allegedly prevented them from completing their work.
It is obviously quite hard to determine who fired the first shot any time a war is declared, especially if you consider that the Italian army was deployed along a front stretching from Lombardy to the Karst. Several witnesses tell that the first movements and shots had already been heard in several other areas, from the Dolomites to the Friulian plain, between May 23rd and 24th. The stele of Visinale has, therefore, a mere symbolic rather than an historical value of the Great War in Friuli Venezia Giulia.
INFORMATION
Intersection btw road SS356 - Via Primo Maggio, Visinale dello Judrio
I-33040 Corno di Rosazzo (UD)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Municipality of Corno di Rosazzo
Piazza Divisione Julia, 1
I-33040 Corno di Rosazzo (UD)
Tel +39 0432 759164
+39 0432 759164
Fax +39 0432 753110
protocollo@com-corno-di-rosazzo.regione.fvg.it
