The Centro Studi Bonifica Bellica “Ugo Cerletti” (Centre of bomb disposal studies “Ugo Cerletti”) is located in Conegliano (Piazza San Martino 1).
Ugo Cerletti was a psychiatric doctor that during the First World War gave military service first in Ortles and then in Auronzo, next to the borderline with Austria.
Lots of Cerletti’s historical memories related to the war period are conserved in the Centro Studi Bonifica Bellica “Ugo Cerletti” curated by Nicola Cristofoli where you can still find two of the Ugo Cerletti’s inventions: a particular weapon, named “Spoletta” (a scoppio differito), but also the white military uniform which was invented by Cerletti to camouflage the soldiers in the snow.
Cerletti was also interested in literature, art and photography indeed all of the photos he made during the war are still an important historical document for the researchers and the lovers of history.
Today his memory is transmitted thanks to his daughter Margherita, the historic researcher Bruno Marcuzzo, Roberta Passione who is the writer of Cerletti’s biography.
Spoletta a Scoppio Differito
The Spoletta is a weapon which introduced the concept of the time in war camp for the first time. Before Cerletti’s Spoletta, the soldiers could only decide the place where the bombs would have exploded and most of the times those bombs burst after some days or even worse they remained unexploded; actually Cerletti found the way to determine the exact moment in which this weapon would explode. The Spoletta was projected to work using a chemical process: the cellulose was corroded by acetone which was present in different concentrations and this led to explosions in different time periods1.
This is a table that cross-check data of temperature and intervals of explosion.
Here you can see an illustration made and signed by Cerletti.
White Military Uniform
The white military uniform was very useful to camouflage the soldiers in the snow. In the second photo Cerletti is wearing the uniform he invented.
This was the doctor’s bag of Cerletti during the First World War
Cerletti working on the Spoletta
- Photos and main text by Chiara Doganiero and Barbara Fanton (December 2016), courtesy of Bruno Marcuzzo, Centro Studi Bonifica Bellica “Ugo Cerletti” and Cerletti’s Archive
- Locate the item on this Google Map
Bibliography
- B. Marcuzzo, G. De Donà and W. Musizza, Sei Mesi in Guerra sulle Dolomiti, Edizioni DBS, Belluno 2014, pp. 142
More information at the official website http://www.centrostudicerletti.it