This discovery reminds us of the horrors of war, and demands that we revisit a brief  summary of Italy's place in WWI, that follows.

(AGI) - Bolzano (Italy), August 21 - In Forni glace the extraordinary discovery of four mummified bodies of Austrian soldiers who died in the first world war was made.

Maurizio Vincenzi, president of the war museum in Pejo made the discover during an excursion on Friday morning.

At 3,300 metres (11,000 ft) close to the historical peak of San Matteo, Vicenzi saw an undefined dark spot with his binoculars. He reached the place and understood, thanks to their uniforms, the these were four Austrian bodies.

The researcher hopes to find close the tab with their names, but is very difficult.

Vincenzi said, "they surely died during one of the most bloody clashes in the area during the first world war. In August 18 Italian troops arrived to San Matteo peak, from Lombardia region, and took the place."

An helicopter will take the bodies to Pejo cemetery, after funeral they will be buried in Vermiglio's charnel house. (AGI) .

Agenzia Giornalistica Italia - News In English
http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl%3Fdoc=200408211732-1093-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia
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ITALY & WORLD WAR I:

World War I in Europe had a few causes:

The tension between Germany and France because of the French - German war (1870-1871) which Germany had won. From that moment on France had the Revanche Policy against Germany.

The Imperialism. France and Germany were fighting against each other in Afrika to acquire colonies and that also caused tension in Europe.

England had the best sea - fleet of Europe, but a new emperor was appointed in Germany who wanted to build an even bigger fleet than England had. So again tension was the result.

The central powers, Germany and Austria constituted a powerful bloc that threatened both the frontiers of France and Russia. As an answer to this, France and Russia had formed an Entente Cordiale in 1904, and in 1907 the three nations formed the Triple Entente.

So now the division of Europe into two armed camps was reality. A gunshot fired on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo killed the heir apparent to the Austrian throne and the war started. On July 28, Austria declared war on Serbia. Within a week the major European powers were declaring war to each other: Russia against Austria, Germany against Russia, France and England against Germany.

Following the terms of the Triple Alliance, Italy was obliged to support Germany and Austria, if attacked. Since Austria’s declaration of war against Serbia was an act of aggression, Italy, therefore initially proclaimed its neutrality.

The Allies beseeched Italy them, and on May 24, 1915, Italy took part in the war on the side of the Allies because of the secret treaty of London of April 26, 1915, in which Italy was promised by France and Britain, the Trentino, the southern Tirol, Trieste with the surrounding district, and the Dalmatian coastline, but even more important, a share in the distribution of the German colonies.

There had also been the monster agitations and demonstrations organized by Mussolini and others fervent for action. Mussolini said: "We want war! Today it’s war, tomorrow will be revolution!" Italian people were divided about war. King Victor Emanuel III, who had ascended the throne in 1900, and his president of the council, Salandra, were for war.

Until 1917 the Italian part in the war consisted mainly in a series of unsuccessful attempts to break through the very strong defensive positions which the Austrians held in the Alps over a length from the Swiss frontier to the Adriatic coast at the mouth of the Isonzo near Trieste.

At one time, in the summer of 1916, there was a serious danger of an Austrian break-through in the Trentino. The Italians were desperately short of artillery and shells, casualties continued to mount, and after the summer offensives of 1917 morale became affected.

The course of the war was radically altered by the entry of the United States on the side of the Allies in 1917. In the spring of 1918, in an effort to end the war before the entry of the United States could be felt, the Germans tried to force their way into Paris. Similarly the Austrian army embarked on a "do or die" campaign, succeeded in breaking through on the Isonzo around Caporetto.

The Italians were driven back to the river Piave, but the Italian army managed to turn and stand in positions prudently prepared in advance, and the Austrians penetrated no farther.

On October the 24th 1918 the Italian army launched a major attack against the Austrian forces along the entire front, initiating the battle of Vittorio Veneto.

On November 3th, 1918 the Italians entered Trent and Trieste, causing the Austrians  the following day to sign an armistice at Villa Giusti, near Padua.

This permitted the Allies within a week to initiate a major offensive attack along the French front that terminated in the total victory of the Allies.

The war had cost Italy 6,000,000 lives.

At the peace conference, which opened in Paris on January the 18th , 1919, the Italians felt that they had made a war effort comparable to that of France and Britain, and further believed that their campaign of October 1918 had been the decisive factor in the winning of the war, yet found too often that the Italo-Austrian front was spoken as a ‘secondary front’, and furthermore found themselves treated as inferiors, and that all the promises of the secret Treaty of London were not going to be honored.

Finally, on June 2nd, 1919, the Treaty of St. Germain fixed the peace terms with Austria, which established the frontiers of Italy to the Brenner Pass. Italy thus obtained the Trentino with the entire valley of the Adige River, Trieste, and Istria. However, the treaty did not give to Italy the Adriatic islands, nor the Dalmatian coastline, but even more important, a share in the distribution of the German colonies, which had been promised in the Treaty Of London, nor did it define the territorial boundaries between Italy and the new state of Yugoslavia.

The entire country of Italy was in shock, and felt betrayed, especially since Italy had suffered the greatest physical damage of the victors. The resentment of being treated in such a contemptuous manner, was one of the reasons, not the principal one, for Italy entering WWII on Germany's side.

Italy in World War Ihttp://library.thinkquest.org/19592/history/wwhist1.htm
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Ernest Hemmingway: "Farewell to Arms"