“È meglio vivere un giorno da leone che cent’anni da pecora” is the second writing that can been seen on a border of the military shrine of Fagaré della Battaglia (the first one was shown yesterday in this post). Once again, the legend states it was written by some anonymous soldier. But a veteran, Bernardo Vicario, confessed in a letter written in 1932 that he was the author:
“…this legend was written by me on the evening of June 14, 1918, at seven o’clock, six hours before the big bombimg which was the cause of the loss of almost all themen of my battalion. This legend was dictated to me by the late Maggiore Rigoli Cav. Carlo and I, being a sapper at the headquarter of the battalion, I executed this order as I could and wrote on that that wall at the entrance of the village was located where was located the 1st battalion of the 201st Infantry Regiment…” (source: Aquile e Angeli, sul Grappa e sul Piave, Piero Tessaro, Zanetti Danilo Edizioni 1997).
Oh! Was about to forget the translation: It is better to live one single day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep. This expression had been already used in the 18th century, according to some sources.
Today…
… And yesterday
Some WW1 Photographs... 