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The NATO Missile Base of Passo Coe - Monte Toraro
Located near Passo Coe (1610 m), in the municipality of Folgaria (Trentino), it was one of the twelve missile bases of the Air Force deployed in Northern Italy in the sixties as part of NATO air defense system in southern Europe.
Its purpose, like that of other bases, was to counter any air strikes at high altitude by the countries of the Warsaw Pact. The weapon system was based on the missile Nike - Hercules, a surface - air missile, armed with conventional and nuclear warheads.
Active from 1966 to 1977, it was therefore one of the main defense system of that period of history that took the name of the Cold War, the ideological conflict, economic and political between the East and West of the world that began immediately after the second world war and fortunately never escalated into a fought war. An international tension that marked the period after the Second World War until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The Launch, Control and Logistics Areas
Together with the bases of Monte Pizzoc, Monte Grappa and Monte Calvarina, the Base of Passo Coe - Monte Toraro was a 'mountain base', and it was composed, as the other Nike-Hercules missile bases, of an Launch Area, a Control Area and a Logistics Area.
The Launch Area - built on an area of over 16 hectares occupying the pastures of the former pasture of Malga Zonta - was at 1543 m altitude near Passo Coe (Municipality of Folgaria), in Trentino. The Control Area was instead situated on the top of Toraro mount, at 1897 m above sea level, while the Logistics Area was in Tonezza, at 991 m above sea level: both locations are in the province of Vicenza.
To reach the operational areas, from the logistics center of Tonezza, they had to follow the road up to the Folgaria Plateau. At Valbona Pass a specially built road leaded to the summit of Mount Toraro, to the Control Area. From Valbona Pass, continuing downhill to Coe Pass, they reached the Launch Area. Nearby there were the barracks of the military staff.
The distance between the Logistic Area and the Control and Launch Areas and the difference in altitude ( 906 m ) created quite a few problems , especially in winter , when heavy snowfall made it very uncomfortable to reach the stations.