The Tagliata del Sasso of San Martino - that is the military defensive barrier - was located south of Agordo, on a rocky but isolated spur of the mountain on the right Cordevole, between the Ponte del Cristo and the Ponte de La Muda; here in fact the two approached slopes force the river into a narrow, tactically ideal gorge. The defense was conceived on several distinct elements: the Fortress of San Martino on the rolling stock, the upper barrack, the various positions for artillery and other works in caverns with tunnels and paths that connected the various artifacts between them.
Most of the military works were built at the end of the 1800s to counteract a possible Austro-Hungarian invasion from the north but, on the stroke of World War I, the front was consolidated much further north, decreeing the substantial uselessness of these artifacts; in 1917 - following the events of Caporetto - the Forte della Tagliata was even blown up by the retreating Italians. During the Second World War the entire stronghold was again the object of the attention of the German occupiers and through the Todt paramilitary organization, the area of the Sasso di San Martino was reorganized for a defense from the south. Today, most of these works - some still in good condition - still bear witness to the strategic importance of these places in a context that is also useful for investigating the knowledge of military architecture at the end of the 19th century.
