Flying USA – September 2019

layovers go rather senior at my air-

line, and I was unable to bid them

until recently. When my June sched-

ule popped up with one of the cov-

eted trips, I contacted Federico; he

had to work that day but was able

to rejigger his schedule. Federico’s

Airbus A320 arrived from Gatwick

less than an hour after my Boeing 767

from JFK, and we were soon headed

north through the scenic Veneto

countryside.

The rolling hills and fertile plains

between the Alps and the Adriatic Sea

are best known today for the region’s

production of prosecco, the sparkling

wine that is to Italy as Champagne

is to France. A century ago, however,

it was the scene of savage fighting on

the Italian front of World War I. From

1915 to 1917, Italy and the Austro-

Hungarian Empire duked it out along

a bloody, nearly static line through the

Dolomites, an alpine version of the

trench warfare of the Western Front.

With Russia convulsed by revolution

and largely out of the war by late 1917,

Germany moved south to assist their

Austro-Hungarian ally; the combined

armies made huge territorial gains

after the Battle of Caporetto. By

early 1918, the Austrians were on the

eastern bank of the Piave River, just

north of Venice, preparing for a deci-

sive attack into the industrial heart

of Italy. Today, a drive along the idyl-

lic Piave reveals few scars from the

fierce battle that raged here in June

1918, a resounding Italian victory that

hastened the end of the war. But Italy

still remembers: Plaques, statues and

memorials pepper the countryside

and fill every village piazza.

One such monument appears just

west of the battlefield on a wooded,

low-slung ridge known as Montello.

It marks the spot where Major

Francesco Baracca, greatest of Italy’s

f lying aces, was fatally shot down

on June 19, 1918, at the height of the

Battle of the Piave River. Baracca is

widely venerated in Italy, not only for

his 34 confirmed aerial victories over

¹MSRP
For Part 23 Class I/II aircraft (weighing less than 6,000 lbs) and experimental/amateur-built aircraft only.
© 2019 Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.

GNX™ 375 NAVIGATOR WITH BUILT-IN TRANSPONDER

UNLOCK LPV APPROACHES

AND ADS-B

To learn more, see your Garmin dealer or visit Garmin.com/ADS-B

TOUCHSCREEN

DISPLAY

IFR NAVIGATOR WITH LPV

APPROACHES

MOVING MAP WITH

TERRAIN

ADS-B

“OUT” AND “IN”

CONNECT WIRELESSLY

WITH APPS

ACTUAL SIZE 2" X 6.25"

$7,995

1

STARTING AT

ITALY STILL REMEMBERS ITS PAST

GLORY: PLAQUES, STATUES AND

MEMORIALS PEPPER THE COUNTRYSIDE

AND FILL EVERY VILLAGE PIAZZA.