nvented by the Italian army during World War I, vie ferrate began as a way to get soldiers to the tops of rock towers in the Dolomites mountains so they could fire down on the Austrians. They fell into disuse after the war, but hikers rediscovered them in the 1960s.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-viaferrata17-2010jan17,0,7549250.story