Finding out the location	easy
Access	very hard
Safety	unsafe
Risk of being seen	high
General condition of the place	bad
Traces of vandalism	few
Good place for taking pictures?	very good
Did you see other people?	none or very few

Visit date    February 2 2020 at 9 hr
Visit duration    3 hours

The NATO Venda base was a former base active between 1955 and 1998, located in a bunker inside the mount of the same name, and was the headquarters of the 1st ROC (Regional Operation Center).
In the event of an outbreak of hostilities with the Warsaw Pact, the 1st ROC would become the command of the 5th ATAF (Allied Tactical Air Force) and would pass under the control of AIRSOUTH, the command of NATO's southern air forces, responding under the command of West Star (also abandoned after the 2000s).
Located in a system of tunnels dug into the belly of the mountain, located at a depth varying between 20 and 70 meters of rock, it had a total length of 1,046 meters.
It was considered one of the essential sites of the Italian and allied defense, a nerve center of communication inserted in the NADGE system (NATO Air Defense Ground Environment). This base controlled all military and commercial air traffic up to Rome ( there were two other sites similar to this one: the 2nd ROC on Mount Cavo in Lazio and the 3rd ROC in Martina Franca, in Puglia ) and over five hundred soldiers worked in each, on three daily shifts.
After closing, the activities of the 1st ROC were divided between the Poggio Renatico air base and the Padova ACC of Abano Terme.
A investigation is currently underway due to the numerous deaths in military personnel who passed through these bunkers, due to Radon gas and asbestos.

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