Damiano Chiesa and Fabio Filzi were born under Austria and died at its hands in 1916, three weeks apart, in the same castle moat in Trento. Their home valley put their faces on its war memorial.
At a glance
The monument stands against the wall of the castle in Piazza del Podestà, at the foot of Castel Veneto in Rovereto. The architect was Giovanni Tiella; the Trentino sculptor Alcide Ticò carved the two busts and the eagle. In the centre are Sottotenente Damiano Chiesa and Tenente Fabio Filzi, each inscribed Medaglia d’Oro; the panels on either side carry the names of the dead of the Vallagarina under the heading Legione Trentina — Gruppo di Vallagarina — Guerra 1915-1918. The line across the top reads: Caddero volontari per l’Italia.
Key facts
- Architect: Giovanni Tiella
- Sculptor: Alcide Ticò, of Trentino — the two busts and the eagle
- Materials: marble, supplied by the stone firm of Onorato Scanegatta; bronze wreath; metal railing and chain
- Inscriptions: «Caddero volontari per l’Italia»; «Legione Trentina / Gruppo di Vallagarina / Guerra 1915-1918»; the bronze wreath reads «Associazione Nazionale Alpini 1916 – 1966»
- The eagle: the emblem of the Legione Trentina, carved in the lower part under a laurel wreath with a tricolour ribbon
- Year: not established — see below
- GPS: 45.8864, 11.0457 · Open in Google Maps (OpenStreetMap)
The two men
Both were subjects of Austria-Hungary who crossed into Italy and enlisted in the Italian army, which under Austrian law made them traitors rather than prisoners of war. The Comune di Rovereto records that Damiano Chiesa was captured at Castel Dante on 18 May 1916: sentenced to hang, he was shot instead because of his age — he was twenty-three — in the moat of the Castello del Buonconsiglio on 19 May. Fabio Filzi was captured with Cesare Battisti on 10 July 1916, condemned for high treason, and hanged in the same moat at half past seven in the evening of 12 July.
The monument was promoted by the Legione Trentina, whose eagle is carved at its base, and it commemorates them together with the war dead of the whole valley. The bronze wreath was added later, by the Associazione Nazionale Alpini, and is dated 1916–1966.
What you see
A white marble front, almost a wall within the wall, set directly against the rough stone of the castle. Two fluted pilasters divide it into three: the busts in the centre, under their names and ranks, and a panel of names on either side, cut in the squared capitals of the period. Above runs the single line of the dedication; below the busts a small bronze eagle, and under that a larger eagle carved in the marble beneath a laurel wreath. A low railing and a chain close the platform in front, which is kept planted with red flowers.
What is not documented
The year is the gap. The Comune di Rovereto’s own page names the sculptor and the place and gives no date; the Pietre della Memoria record gives the architect, the materials and the full inscriptions, and no date either. Ticò’s biography places his return to Rovereto in 1932, when he made the two monumental busts, and a specialist blog on his sculpture dates the work to 1933 — so the early 1930s, on the available evidence, but this page does not state a year as established. If you can point to a source that fixes it, we will add it with your name.
Nearby
- Rovereto Castle — Italian Historical War Museum — the monument stands at its foot
- Casa Depero — fifty metres away
- Rovereto
Sources
- Comune di Rovereto, Monumento Fabio Filzi e Damiano Chiesa: the sculptor Alcide Ticò, the location in Piazza del Podestà, and the capture, sentence and execution of Damiano Chiesa (18–19 May 1916) and Fabio Filzi (10 and 12 July 1916)
- Pietre della Memoria, Monumento ai Caduti della Vallagarina, Rovereto: the architect Giovanni Tiella, the materials and the Scanegatta marble, the full inscriptions, the Alpini wreath of 1916–1966, and the eagle as the emblem of the Legione Trentina
- The inscriptions quoted here were read from the photograph on this page.
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