Perteole's Memorial Park was promoted by the local community and the Municipal Administration of Ruda and created in 1995. It is a small park which includes a large cross in white karstic stone dating from 1915, and 25 iron crosses commemorating the fallen soldiers of the Great War and WW II.
The park lies on the site of a former 1915 war cemetery. The Municipality of Ruda, in fact, like many other centres of the Friulian plain not far from the Karst around Gorizia, was one of the logistic centres of the Italian rear line. The village hosted a number of facilities to sort soldiers, barracks, command points and military hospitals to heal the wounded soldiers on the front. Moreover, military authorities had to reserve some spaces for the burials too, given the high number of deceased due to lack of hygiene and the gravity of injuries suffered.
The firs bodies were buried here as early as summer of 1915 behind the medieval St. Andrew's church of Perteole. The cemetery, which was supposed to operate for the entire duration of the conflict, was abandoned already at the end of the year, due to lack of space: a cholera epidemic resulted in an astonishing number of deaths and 559 graves had already been dug at the time (including 26 for Austro-Hungarian soldiers). The cemetery was thus abandoned and officially dismissed in 1935, when all remains of the bodies were moved to the Memorial of Redipuglia.
INFORMATION
Via Giuseppe Verdi, Fraz. Perteole
I-33050 Ruda (UD)
