Bassano del Grappa lies at the foothills of Mount Grappa, at the mouth of the Brenta River Valley.

During the Great War, Mount Grappa was a theatre of heroic battles and for this reason it is considered a sacred mountain. In 1920 the American major William R. Hereford wrote: “ Mount Grappa is for Italy what Gibraltar is for Great Britain; and like the English affectionately abbreviate the Mediterranean Rock as “Gib”, the Italians proudly speak of their granitic stronghold not like Mount Grappa but simply “The Grappa”.

In 1918 the American Red Cross (ARC) set up the First Section to support the IV Grappa Army Corps at Ca’ Erizzo in Bassano del Grappa, a few hundred meters from the famous wooden bridge, designed by the architect Palladio in the XV century, known as “Ponte degli Alpini”.

Amongst the ambulance drivers of the ARC there was John Dos Passos, who wrote “Bassano Diaries and notebooks” while he was there.

Another driver wrote a novel a few years later that was emotionally inspired from these surroundings and his intense experience. His name was Ernest Hemingway and that novel, “A Farewell To Arms” became his masterpiece.

Who knows what kind of spirit these young writers would have enjoyed during their stay in Bassano del Grappa...

For certain we know that Hemingway was hit by artillery, promoted to First Lieutenant and awarded a silver medal of valor before returning home in 1919 with 227 scars on his wounded leg.