Description of the attraction
Fort Fenestrelle is an ancient fortress towering over the town of the same name in the Val di Susa valley in Piedmont. This is the largest alpine fortress in Europe - it is located on an area of 1,300,000 square meters. The fort was built by the French in 1694 according to the project of the architect Vauban, and between 1728 and 1850 it was expanded and fortified by the Italians. It stands at an altitude of 1100-1800 meters above sea level and guards the road to Turin through the Quizone river valley. In 1709, after the defeat of the French troops, the territory of the fort was bought by the Duchy of Savoy, which later turned into the Kingdom of Sardinia.
The history of Fort Fenestrelle is quite interesting. In 1694, the French general de Catiney received permission to build the Mouten fortress in the Quizone river valley, designed by the famous military engineer Sebastian Le Presre de Vauban. However, already in August 1708, the fortress was besieged by the Savoyard army led by Victor Amadeus II - the French lasted only 15 days inside. In 1713, according to the Treaty of Utrecht, France officially transferred the Fort, called Fenestrella, to the Savoy dynasty, which immediately ordered the strengthening of the structure for its better defense. All fortifications were connected by a 3 km wall and a long internal staircase with 3996 steps.
For some time the French used Fort Fenestrelle as a prison - among the known prisoners were Josef de Maestre and Bartolomeo Pacca. It also contained Pierre Picot, who became the prototype for Edmond Dantes, the protagonist of Alexander Dumas's novel The Count of Monte Cristo. The Savoyans also sent political prisoners, Mazzini associates and common criminals here.
In 1861, after the unification of Italy, about 24 thousand people, mostly soldiers who supported the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, were sent to Fort Fenestrelle, which, in fact, turned into a concentration camp. Supporters of Garibaldi and the Pope were also locked up here. Most of the prisoners died of hunger and cold.
In 1882, the fortress was restored, and after 1887 it was used as the headquarters of the Fenestrelle battalion of the Third Alpine Regiment. After the Second World War, the fort was abandoned and began to decline, in part it was even dismantled by local residents. Only in 1990, the implementation of the project for the reconstruction of Fort Fenestrelle, initiated by a group of volunteers "Prozhetto San Carlo", began.
