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

Location

Cavalletto, Asiago Plateau, Province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy

Coordinates

45.7983° N, 11.5090° E

Overview

Cavalletto British Cemetery occupies a position in the high plateau country around Asiago, where British divisions served on the Italian Front from late 1917 until the Armistice in November 1918. The site is administered by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which was established by royal charter in 1917 to ensure permanent, dignified commemoration of Commonwealth service members. The cemetery exemplifies the CWGC’s founding philosophy: equal treatment for all who died, from generals to privates, expressed through identical white stone headstones set in maintained garden-like grounds.

History

Following the Italian catastrophe at Caporetto in October 1917, Britain and France dispatched reinforcements to the Italian Front. British forces were assigned sectors of the Asiago Plateau, where they endured the Austrian Strafexpedition and engaged in the Battle of the Solstice (June 1918) and the final Vittorio Veneto offensive (October–November 1918). Battlefield burial grounds were consolidated by the Imperial War Graves Commission after the Armistice, and Cavalletto was formally laid out and registered in the early 1920s as a permanent place of commemoration.

What you see

Rows of uniform Portland stone headstones, each engraved with a regimental badge, name, rank, and date of death, are arranged across a carefully tended lawn. A Cross of Sacrifice marks the cemetery’s head, and the Stone of Remembrance carries Rudyard Kipling’s inscription “Their Name Liveth For Evermore.” The plateau setting — open meadows merging into alpine woodland — lends the site a peaceful, elevated character that contrasts with the violent history it memorialises.

Cultural significance

The cluster of British cemeteries on the Asiago Plateau, of which Cavalletto is one, preserves the memory of a relatively little-known campaign in western consciousness: the British contribution to the Italian Front. These sites attract war pilgrims, historians, and descendants of the fallen, and together with Italian and Austro-Hungarian memorials on the plateau they tell a multilateral story of alpine warfare. The CWGC’s continuous maintenance guarantees their integrity as heritage sites.

Practical information

The cemetery is freely accessible at all times. Casualty records and cemetery reports are available on the CWGC website (cwgc.org). The nearest town with full visitor services is Asiago, roughly 7 km to the north-east.

Getting there

From Asiago, take the SP349 south-west; the cemetery is located near the Cavalletto locality on the plateau. By public transport, travel from Bassano del Grappa by regional bus to Asiago, then continue by taxi or hire car. The main rail hub for the area is Bassano del Grappa, served by regional trains from Vicenza and Padova.

Sources & resources

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