A via ferrrata is a collection of facilities and equipped placed on a rocky wall to facilitate safe climbing on a hiking path. Routes, that without the use of these facilities would require knowledge and climbing techniques.
The first via ferrata was built in 1869 in Austria. It was, however, during the Great War that there was great impetus for the creation of railways used by soldiers to reach the outposts on the various tops of the Alpine chain in the attempt to surprise the enemy. In modern times it is mainly in the tourist-hiking area they run.