At 5.45 am on 23rd September 1916, 14,200 kg of explosives were detonated collapsing the summit of Mount Cimone and burying the entire infantry brigade of Sele, which stationed there. During the early post-war period the remains of 1,210 dead were recovered, who were buried in a single compartment constituting the actual ossuary.

The Ossuary of Mount Cimone has become, along with those of Pasubio, Mount Grappa and Leiten, a symbol of the province of Vicenza.