At a glance

Type

Commonwealth War Graves Commission military cemetery

Period

Established during and after the First World War (1917–1919)

Style

CWGC standard design: uniform Portland stone headstones, Cross of Sacrifice, Stone of Remembrance

Location

Barenthal locality, Asiago Plateau, Province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy

Coordinates

45.8412° N, 11.4998° E

Overview

Barenthal Military Cemetery occupies a site in the high forested uplands of the Asiago Plateau, where British forces fought alongside Italian troops after being deployed to the Italian Front in late 1917. Maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission — the intergovernmental body founded in 1917 by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted by royal charter — the cemetery applies the CWGC’s defining principle of equal commemoration, providing each service member with an identical white Portland stone headstone regardless of rank or origin.

History

Following the catastrophic Italian defeat at Caporetto in October 1917, British and French divisions were transferred to the Italian Front to bolster the line. British forces assumed responsibility for sectors of the Asiago Plateau and participated in major engagements including the Battle of the Solstice in June 1918 and the final Vittorio Veneto offensive in October 1918, which ended the war on the Italian Front. Temporary battlefield burial grounds were established during fighting; after November 1918, the Imperial War Graves Commission consolidated scattered graves into permanent sites, of which Barenthal was one, formally registered and landscaped in the early 1920s.

What you see

The cemetery follows the standard CWGC design: rows of uniform white Portland stone headstones, each individually engraved with a regimental badge, the soldier’s name, rank, date of death, and — in many cases — a personal inscription chosen by the family. A Cross of Sacrifice and a Stone of Remembrance bearing Rudyard Kipling’s phrase “Their Name Liveth For Evermore” provide the focal architectural elements. The surrounding plateau forest creates a natural enclosure, giving the cemetery an atmosphere of contemplative remoteness that reflects its distance from the lowland world the buried men came from.

Cultural significance

The British cemeteries on the Asiago Plateau — Barenthal, Boscon, Granezza and Cavalletto among them — form a collective landscape of memory for a campaign that remains less familiar than the Western Front in British popular memory. These sites are integral to the plateau’s identity as a landscape shaped by the Great War, drawing heritage tourists, descendants of the fallen, and historians studying the multinational character of the 1914–1918 conflict. The CWGC’s century-long stewardship ensures they remain dignified, permanent places of remembrance.

Practical information

The cemetery is open at all times and admission is free. Casualty records, cemetery registers, and aerial location maps are available on the CWGC website at cwgc.org. The nearest town with accommodation and visitor services is Asiago, approximately 8–10 km to the south-east.

Getting there

From Asiago, follow the SP349 north-west and look for CWGC directional signs. By public transport, travel to Asiago by regional bus from Bassano del Grappa (Ferrovia Trento-Vicenza service), then continue by taxi or hire car. The main regional rail station is Bassano del Grappa, approximately 35 km south, served by trains from Vicenza and Padova.

Sources & resources

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission — cwgc.org
• Asiago — Wikipedia
• Cultural Heritage Online — culturalheritageonline.com