Ricerc@Sapienza

In 1967, during the Cold War, the Italian Government, according to the indications given by NATO, decided to
provide the nation with a site that could ensure the security of documents and people with high command task in
the event of a nuclear attack. The antiatomic bunker was created as a refurbishment of the tunnels secretly built
in Monte Soratte, a few kilometres north of Rome, between 1937 and 1943, to ensure a safe haven for the Italian
Government in case of enemy offensive. After the Allied bombing of Frascati, the underground structure was
occupied by the German troops and the tunnels were transformed almost into a small underground city. In some
cases they were set up to house dormitories and offices, and in other they were equipped inside with wooden
panel constructions, to build places of entertainment for the military. Following the bombing of Soratte, in 1944,
the refuge was abandoned by Germans and later, in the 1950s, the Italian Ministry of Defence used it as a powder
magazine.
Work on the construction of the atomic bunker, which involved four of the inner cavities, began in 1967, but was
interrupted in 1972, leaving the structure incomplete. The existing tunnels were lined with a high-strenght
reinforced concrete shell to ensure protection and they were cut horizontally with thick slabs. In addition locking
systems were installed at the access point and the tunnels were isolated from the neighbouring cavities with
reinforced concrete wall up to seven metres thick. In 2001 the Italian Military Property Office decommissioned the
external area and the barracks, and then, in 2007, the underground complex.
This article aims to be a contribution to be deepening of knowledge of the atomic bunker of Monte Soratte, which
in 1993 was defined by International Atomic Energy Agency as a valid example of how to intervene on an existing
structure to ensure continuity to a country in case of atomic attacks.