The Great War

In this section, you can find numerous finds dating back to the First World War. During these sad times, the mountains of Valfurva were the backdrop for various military operations that took place at the highest altitudes ever reached in the war. This is certainly the case of the battle of Mount San Matteo in which the young Captain Arnaldo Berni lost his life fighting at almost 3,700 meters above sea level (second only, by altitude, to the Siachen conflict fought between India and Pakistan between 1984 and 2003). Some of the Captain's personal items (such as the broken butt of his rifle or his Alpine hat) are kept in the Museum and honour his memory.

Peering among the numerous objects dating back to the Great War, some surprises include the retractable ladders or the small iron structures used to splint the broken limbs of soldiers. The white camouflage suits (... like snow!) of high altitude Alpine corps are definitely worth a mention. The enemy army soon adopted this particular equipment, due to its extraordinary ability to blend in with the snow, but what perhaps not everyone knows is that its inventor was Dr. Ugo Cerletti, a native of Valtellina. Cerletti was a world-renowned neurologist famed as the creator of the electric shock, the famous - and equally controversial- psychiatric therapeutic technique.