US Armor & Vehicles

At the foot of the Pisco Montano

Life

Italian Campaign, May 1944: an US Army self-propelled 105mm howitzer M-7 “Priest” had just left the town of Terracina, 130 km South of Rome, in front to Tyrrhenian coast, during the advance of the Allied troops towards Rome. Behind the “Priest”, an impressive work carried out by the Romans at the time of the Emperor Trajan, Imperator Caesar Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus Augustus (98-117 after Christ): the Taglio del Pisco Montano, a promontory cut for grind the road layout of the Via Appia (the “Regina Viarum” from Rome to Brindisi) so that the road may run along the sea avoiding the long and difficult trip in the middle of the mountains. In the Picco you can see the engraved signs with indications in Roman numerals showing the height reached progressively: total height 128 roman foot, in modern unit of measures 37.88 meters. Victor Sierra