Il fronte del fiume Piave dalla carte militari del 1918-18. Aggiornamenti topografici e militari attraverso l'occhio del cartografo

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the military maps of the Archivio di Stato di Firenze (ASFi), collected in the Miscellanea di Mappe Militari (MMM) that cover the frontline along the Piave river from December 1917 to October 1918. These maps are more than 100 sheets and cover the middle and final course of the Piave river, from Pederobba - Vidor to the Venice lagoon and the Sile River, drawing a frontline of 70 km. The military maps show a different military disposition of the two Armies, which deployed their units according to defensive (Italian Army) and offensive (Austro-Hungarian Army) purposes. In the maps we can clearly observe the process of the continuous cartographic update, derived from aerial and terrestrial recognition that capture new military settlements completing or changing the frontline. Moreover, the course of the river was continuously updated, as well as other strategic land cover elements (i.e. vegetation, trafficability, buildings etc.). Italian and Austro-Hungarian maps were compared to calculate the effectiveness and the difference in priority of mapping.