With “Eco Run” visiting the anti-aircraft shelter of the Giardini Estensi in Varese

Following the great success achieved by theopening of the Estensi Gardens anti-aircraft shelter on the occasion of “Agrivarese” with the record presence of a thousand visitors, the next opening to the public is scheduled bunker, scheduled on the days of Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 April in conjunction with “Ecorun”the city event now in its 5th edition and which includes various competitive and non-competitive running races.

An event much loved by the people of Varese, who will also be offered the opportunity to access the underground refuge located under the hill of the Gardenswith entrance in via Copelli, in front of the municipal swimming pool. There will be a gazebo on site Pre-Alpine Speleological Group with info-point and organization of guided tours, scheduled from 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm on Saturday afternoonwhile on Sundays they will start at 10.00 am until 6.00 pm hourly, thus offering anyone who wants it the opportunity to rediscover a corner of Varese history.

This is an opportunity not to be missed, also because these sites of great historical interest are only open to the public for a few days during the year, and in this case you don’t even need a reservation; just show up at the entrance and join one of the various groups that will cross the threshold of the bunker with free entry.

THE HISTORY OF THE BUNKER

Not many people know that underground in the Giardini Estensi there is one of the most interesting and well-preserved anti-aircraft shelters from the Second World War. It was the first of a dozen built under Varese, built hastily between October 1943 and the first months of ’44. It is mainly a reinforced concrete tunnel over 140 meters long and equipped with two main entrances, the first located in via Lonati, in front of the ACI car park, while the second is located in via Copelli, from which it can be accessed in Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st.

The main tunnel is just over two meters high and three meters wide, with two long rows of benches on the sides of the tunnel they could accommodate up to 600 people, which flowed through the two main entrances equipped with heavy concrete doors, as well as an emergency exit that could be reached by climbing a spiral staircase for about fifteen metres, until emerging in the upper area of ​​the Estensi Gardens. The citizens rushed there every time the alarm sounded, and the testimonies of the time speak of moments of crowds and frightened crowds; there were stories full of emotion, such as waking up with a start in the middle of the night to the sound of sirens, the hasty escape to the shelters where one remained locked up waiting for the end of the danger, with the crying of terrified children and the moans of old men, women and frightened people: “They made us enter that tunnel and then the militia blocked the doors from the outside, they didn’t open us again until after a few hours, at the end of the bombing, during which we heard terrible explosions that made the whole tunnel tremble while the light came and went; someone had a crisis, screaming and crying because he wanted to escape out of the bunker but no one opened the door, while others tried to calm those suffering from nervous breakdowns, with the murmur of the women praying the rosary with their hands. Then at dawn we finally heard the sound of the bolts that had blocked those heavy doors and once they reopened we returned home, and I immediately got ready to go to school, after a sleepless and scared night. I still remember those dramatic moments well, even though I was just a little girl!”.

This is the testimony of an elderly woman who, visiting the refuge on the occasion of its opening to the public, relived those tragic moments, still telling them with intense emotion to the speleologists who accompanied him.

Varese was in fact bombed several times, especially towards the end of ’44, when the famous “flying fortresses” of the allies struck the Aermacchi factoriesspreading death and destruction across much of the city.

Thanks to the collaboration between the Municipal Administration of Varese and the Prealpine Speleological Group it was finally possible to carry out a project for the recovery and valorisation of this important site, an initiative structured in two different phases; the first through bunker reclamation operations, i.e. hard and very heavy work to remove materials and equipment stored inside the tunnels, the cleaning of the floors and stairs towards the emergency exit and the demolition of internal masonry works built in post-war period, making the journey easier and, finally, in the spring of 2011, the official opening to the public, a ceremony held in the presence of numerous authorities including the mayor of Varese.

Ecorun returns to Varese, a weekend of sport and the environment