An Alpine fortress: the Fenestrelle Fortress

 A brief snapshot of this fortress that was important in centuries past.

The Fenestrelle Fortress, popularly referred to as the ‘Armed Giant’, is a military stronghold built between 1727 and 1850 at Fenestrelle, in Val Chisone (Province of Turin), by order of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and designed by military engineer Ignazio Bertola to guard the French border. The fortress is made up of three forts: Fort S. Carlo, Fort delle Valli and Fort Tre Denti, connected by an underground staircase, known as the ‘Scala Coperta’ (Covered Staircase), with a total of about 4000 steps. There is also an external staircase, called the ‘Scala Reale’, consisting of 2,500 steps, which was used by the sovereign during his visits.
The defensive structure is also referred to as the ‘Great Wall of Piedmont’ and is one of the most remarkable defensive structures in Piedmont, together with the Fort of Vinadio and the Fort of Exilles. The fortress is a set of fortified structures and consists, in addition to the three forts, of seven redoubts, connected by bastions and ramparts, stairways and twenty-eight bastions covering a total area of 1,350,000 square metres. It is considered the longest military structure in Europe and is the largest in the world after the Great Wall of China. During the period of its operation, it was also used as a place of detention. For many years, the fortress suffered severe degradation caused by weathering and wildly proliferating vegetation. Today, the situation has changed and important work is being carried out to enhance it. The overall view of the fortress is truly incredibly scenic in its grandeur. Fort St. Charles was built between 1731 and 1789 and is the most important military structure. It contains the Governor's Palace, the Officers' Pavilion located in the Piazza d'Armi, the quarters for the garrison, a large, now deconsecrated church, the St. Ignatius powder magazine, as well as workshops, warehouses and an infirmary. Forte delle Valli was built in 1728 and is connected to the Pracatinat road by the Ridotta dell'Elmo, the highest structure of the Fenestrelle Fortress. Furthermore, from the Ridotta Belvedere, the Fort connects to the ‘Strada dei Cannoni’ (Cannon Road), which descends towards the fortifications below until it reaches the town of Fenestrelle, the small village located 1145 metres above sea level. ‘Finis terrae Cotii’, is so named because, in the 1st century, it delimited the eastern conne of the kingdom of Cozio, king of the Ligurians. Fort Tre Denti takes its name from the three rock outcrops in the place where it was erected and is the oldest of the Fenestrelle Fortresses. Nearby, there is the ‘Garitta del Diavolo’ (Devil's Watchtower), located on top of a rock outcrop. At one time, the fort had six cannons, kitchens, storerooms, a water cistern and a powder magazine. The twenty-eight risalits are artillery emplacements and are so imposing in their structure that they are visible even from a great distance. They are connected to each other by covered stairways and run along the slope from Fort St. Charles to Fort Tre Denti. The guided tour of the Fenestrelle Fortress lasts about three hours and offers a spectacular ensemble to the sight of the visitor fond of military structures at high altitude. The wealth of artefacts related to French and Savoy military history constitutes a heritage of considerable importance not only historically, but also architecturally and naturally.

This is how the Italian writer Edmondo de Amicis describes it:

“Uno dei più straordinari edifizi che possa aver mai immaginato un pittore di paesaggi fantastici: una sorta di gradinata titanica, come una cascata enorme di muraglie a scaglioni, un ammasso gigantesco e triste di costruzioni, che offriva non so che aspetto misto di sacro e barbarico, come una necropoli guerresca o una rocca mostruosa, innalzata per arrestare un’invasione di popoli, o per contener col terrore milioni di ribelli. Una cosa strana, grande, bella davvero. Era la Fortezza di Fenestrelle”

In English:

‘One of the most extraordinary edifices that a painter of fantastic landscapes could ever have imagined: a sort of titanic staircase, like an enormous cascade of staggered walls, a gigantic and sad heap of constructions, which offered some mixed aspect of the sacred and the barbaric, like a warlike necropolis or a monstrous fortress, erected to stop an invasion of peoples, or to contain millions of rebels with terror. A strange, great, beautiful thing indeed. It was the Fortress of Fenestrelle'.

(Edmondo de Amicis)