 The city had been devastated by abandonment and the long absence of workers, and reconstruction was slow.In order to hasten the rebuilding, the massive Austro-Hungarian forts that had been employed during the war were scavenged for scrap iron and building material, making most of these forts little more than ruins.World War II touched Levico, along with the rest of the province, only to a limited extent until the Badoglio Proclamation on 8 September 1943, when it was invaded by the Wehrmacht and incorporated to the Alpenvorland under direct German administration.