Asiago historical timeline

Origins

The plateau was colonised from the eleventh and twelfth centuries by settlers from Bavaria and Tyrol, whose Germanic dialect -- Cimbrian -- became the language of the plateau and survived, in decline, into the twentieth century. It is still spoken by a very small number of people and remains in place names throughout.

Turning points

In 1310 the seven communities formed the Spettabile Reggenza dei Sette Comuni, a federation with its own assemblies, statutes and considerable self-government. It survived the transfer to Venice in 1404 -- the Republic confirmed its privileges -- and lasted until Napoleon abolished it in 1807, making it one of the longest-lived small federal states in Europe.

Influential people

The plateau's economy was wool, timber, grazing and, from the nineteenth century, the cheese that carries the town's name.

Cultural evolution

The First World War ended that world. The plateau was the front from 1916, and the Austro-Hungarian Strafexpedition of May that year swept across it. Asiago was evacuated and then destroyed -- well over ninety per cent of the town -- and the fighting on Ortigara in 1917 was among the costliest of the Italian war.

Present-day significance

The town was rebuilt in the 1920s to a coherent plan, and the Leiten ossuary, completed in 1938, gathered around 54,000 dead of both sides. Post-war Asiago rebuilt itself on cheese, forestry and mountain tourism.