When, in 1866, the Veneto was annexed to Italy, the border with Austria was along the current division between Veneto and Trentino Alto-Adige, in Lessinia, or between the provinces of Verona and Trento.

Since the city of Verona is located at the foot of the Lessini Mountains, the military of the time were forced to build fortifications to prevent Austrian incursions from the Valdadige, Val dei Ronchi and Lessinia.

One of the most interesting forts to visit near Valpolicella, not far from Sant'Anna d'Alfaedo, is Forte Tesoro, recently restored and redeveloped.

Built in 1905, a few years after the start of the First World War, it was designed according to the new defense techniques: it was necessary to use more resistant materials (concrete and cement instead of earth and brick) to defend themselves from explosive weapons more and more powerful and precise.

It is therefore a real "battleship" built by the Kingdom of Italy to protect itself from the possible invasions of what was still seen as the "great enemy", Austria.

However, during the Great War, due to his distance from the front line, he was disarmed; it was used as an ammunition depot by the Italian Army until a few years ago.

The fort stands on the head of the secondary transport buttress between the Prun valley and the Valpantena.

A cableway made it possible to transport the material necessary for construction from the base of the mountain to the construction site, where there was the stone quarry.

The fort begun in 1905 and completed in 1911, is divided into several levels: a ground floor and two floors surrounded by a moat that delimited the whole area.

The front protected by the moat retains the stone masonry ad opus incertum, but the overlying Prun stone slab roof, built in more recent times, to protect the underlying concrete roof from water infiltrations, completely altered the original image .

The entrance to the fort takes place from a central caponier and leads to a long longitudinal corridor that gives access to the various rooms on the ground floor. two symmetrical staircases placed at the extreme sides of the corridor lead to the first level, where there are dormitories for 226 men, the artillery warehouse and the depot for loaded shells.

Tunnels led to the outer trench where there were three retractable machine gun domes.

Going up the stairs again you reach the corridor of the batteries where there were 6 well installations of 149A cannons, the reservoirs, the observatory, the battery command.

The barracks were located on the north side of the access road to the fort.

During the last restorations in 2014, the fort was restored to its original splendor.