Forte Mezzacapo

A long low grey concrete fort with a curved front and a dark flat roof, standing in a meadow of tall grass with trees behind — Forte Mezzacapo across its meadow at Zelarino. Photo: Stefano Vigolo.

Venice mainland, Zelarino · 1909–1912 · Campo trincerato di Mestre

Forte Mezzacapo — the Concrete Fort of the Mestre Entrenched Camp

Built to stop an army on the road to Treviso, this fort never fired in anger: its guns were taken away in the summer of 1915. Today its vaults hold exhibitions instead of shells.

At a glance

Forte Carlo Mezzacapo, also called the forte alla Gatta after the locality, stands at Zelarino on the Venetian mainland, in Via Scaramuzza. It was built in concrete between 1909 and 1912 to strengthen the campo trincerato of Mestre, the ring of forts that defended Venice from the land side. Its task was to control the road to Treviso and the railway to Udine.

Key facts

Built: 1909–1912, in concrete
Designer: the military engineer Enrico Rocchi, according to the Italian Wikipedia
Role: part of the Campo trincerato di Mestre, covering the road to Treviso and the railway to Udine
Armament: six gun positions and four disappearing machine guns
Disarmed: July 1915; afterwards a powder magazine and munitions depot
Today: a cultural centre; events by the association Dalla guerra alla pace since 2004
Address: Via Scaramuzza 82, Zelarino (Venice)
GPS: 45.53187, 12.22028 · Open in Google Maps

History

The fort is named after General Carlo Mezzacapo. It belongs to the second generation of forts around Mestre, built in reinforced concrete when the older brick works of the entrenched camp no longer answered to new artillery. Its guns sat under steel cupolas.

The fort had hardly been finished when the First World War showed that works of this kind were of no use, and in July 1915 it was disarmed. It was turned into a powder magazine and a depot for munitions and materials. Since 2004 the association Dalla guerra alla pace has held cultural and historical events there, and the fort is today a cultural centre.

What you see

A long, low block of grey concrete, half sunk into the ground behind a meadow of tall grass, with a curved front, a dark flat roof and a few arched, barred openings. Inside, the rooms are long barrel vaults of plastered concrete, lit from a single window at the end.

Gallery

The curved grey concrete side of a low fort with a small window, an arched door and a barred arched opening, tall grass in front — The curved concrete front of the fort, with its barred openings. Photo: Stefano Vigolo.

A long empty room with a plastered barrel vault and peeling walls, lit by a single arched window at the far end, lights hanging from the ceiling — One of the barrel-vaulted rooms inside, lit from the window at its end. Photo: Stefano Vigolo.

Sources

storiAmestre — Forte Mezzacapo: built in concrete in 1909–1912 to strengthen the Mestre entrenched camp, the steel cupolas, disarmed in 1915 and turned into a munitions depot, the association active since 2004
Forte Carlo Mezzacapo, Italian Wikipedia: designer Enrico Rocchi, control of the road to Treviso and the railway to Udine, six guns and four disappearing machine guns, disarmed in July 1915
Forte Mezzacapo — the association’s website: address, and the book Il Forte Mezzacapo di Zelarino by Claudio Zanlorenzi and Rodolfo Marcolin

Visiting

The fort is open for events and guided visits organised by the association: check its website for dates.

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Travel tips from CHO

Go on the first Sunday of the month

State museums, archaeological parks and monuments across Italy open free of charge on the first Sunday of every month. It covers state-run sites only — civic and private museums set their own prices — and there is nothing to claim: you simply walk in.

The ministry’s free days →

In September, the doors that are usually shut open

For one long weekend every September, some fifty European countries run the European Heritage Days together: palaces, workshops, archives and private houses that are closed the rest of the year let visitors in, almost always for nothing. Italy sets its own dates, and they are published a few weeks ahead.

Dates, country by country →

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Forte Mezzacapo — the 1909–1912 Concrete Fort of the Mestre Entrenched Camp, Zelarino