Travel: Hemingway trail

FURTHER to my travels in search of A Farewell to Arms (Independent Traveller, 8 January), Paul Horbury of Batley, West Yorkshire, reports that a couple of years ago, while staying near Venice, he too went with his wife to the small town of Fossalta di Piave to see if he could find where Hemingway had been wounded.

'We caught the service bus from Lido di Jesolo to Fossalta around noon on a very hot summer's day. On arriving at Fossalta, the only place we could find that was open was a cafe at the head of the main street.

'After refreshing ourselves, we inquired if there was anything that commemorated Hemingway. We were directed up a side road towards the river. On reaching a rather crude but effective pontoon bridge about a half-mile from the town, we turned left on the embankment for some 200 yards where we found a stele (an upright memorial stone) erected to commemorate Hemingway.

'The inscription on the stele reads: 'Su questo argine Ernest Hemingway, volontario della Croce Rossa Americana, veniva ferito la notte dell'8 luglio 1918: A cura degli'amici di comisso il 16 settembre 1979.' Which I translate as: 'On this embankment Ernest Hemingway a volunteer of the American Red Cross was wounded on the night of 8 July 1918 . . .'

'We then had another drink back in the town and caught the bus back to re-read A Farewell to Arms. The next year we went and stayed, as you did, in Stresa.'