The old building of the school at Monastier, a former military hospital during World War One, may not be demolished to make way for new flats. It was here that Ernest Hemingway was cured and baptised, after being wounded in the "Battle of the Solstice", on the river Piave. Thanks to the work of 2000 fans, who gathered records and documents, the demolition may be interrupted. It is hoped that a "Hemingway museum" can be created instead. Monastier, Italy. 18/03/2010.
The old building of the school at Monastier, former military hospital during World War One, maybe will not be demolished. In that hospital Ernest Hemingway was cured and baptised, after being wounded in the "Battle of the Solstice", on the river Piave.
Hemingway, who was ambulance-driver of the American Red Cross, was seriously wounded by the Austrian fire. In the very same battle of 16 June 1918 his friend Edward McKey died. He was an ARC lieutenant, the only American soldier who died on the Italian front of World War One. He was buried in the ossuary of Fagarè and Hemingway dedicated a poem to his memory.
The ex-school, former hospital, was going to be demolished, in order to build a dozen flats. All traces of the historical memory of the place described in the novel "Farewell to Arms" would have been destroyed. A large group of residents have started a campaign through Facebook, to safeguard the historical building that anywhere else in the World would become a "Hemingway museum".
Thanks to the work of 2000 fans, who gathered records and documents on the most famous social network, Facebook, the "Sovrintendenza" have interrupted the demolition, to know more about the case. Hemingway was always very fond of the region Veneto and lived there for long periods in the Fifties. He was often in Venice, a regular customer of the Harry's bar, and in Caorle, where he loved to go hunting, hiding in the traditional thatched huts. In that period he wrote "Across the river and into the trees".
The pictures represent the ex-school ex-hospital of Monastier, the Harry's Bar in Venice, lieutenant McKey's tomb, Caorle's seaside, a thatched hut, a piece of artillery on the river Piave's bank and the war memorial at Nervesa.
