FORTE DI FENESTRELLE

Known as the Piedmontese wall, the Fenestrelle Fort is a unique fortified complex in Europe. The imposing structure consists of three forts, three redoubts and two batteries, connected by a covered staircase of 4,000 steps. There are two museums inside: The Governor's Animals and How at the Court of the Re-costumes in the 18th century. In 1727 the engineer Ignazio Bertola, at the request of King Victor Amadeus II, presented the project for a work that had something fantastic about it: a great wall, studded with several fortification works, placed to barricade the Chisone valley against foreign invasions. Its architecture has something incredible about it: it stretches along the ridge of the mountain for a length of more than 3 kilometres, with a total surface area of 1,350,000 square metres and a difference in height between the first and the last building of about 600 metres. Looking at it as a whole, one is confronted with a work that is out of any canon, if one refers to previous fortification defence techniques, due to its gigantic dimensions and the articulation of its buildings. Construction began in the spring of 1728 and lasted for over a century, the last building site closed in 1850. In the busiest years, the number of workers exceeded four thousand. Little by little, what was to become the largest alpine fortress in Europe came into being.After the Second World War, the fort suffered total neglect. Vegetation began to invade and tear down the walls, so much so that the entire complex risked becoming a ruin, a victim of time and human neglect. After being abandoned by the army in 1947, the fortress was forgotten and left to its fate for many years. Since 1990, thanks to the efforts of the Associazione progetto San Carlo Onlus, the fortress has come back to life again.We inform subscribers that the only visit route Sui passi del De Amicis is not included in the Abbonamento Musei.