The Great Wall... in Piedmont! My visit to Fenestrelle, Italy

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Not everyone knows that, in the heart of what were, in 2006, defined the Olympic Mountains, is hidden a treasure of inestimable beauty, which was given the nickname of the Great Wall of Piedmont. An enormous cultural heritage that bears witness to the glorious past of this area and the importance of the Val Chisone has played throughout history.
And it is about seventy kilometers from Turin, in the heart of the Val Chisone, which stands this magnificent example of military architecture: the Fortress of windows.

Finestrelle Fortress, the biggest strength not only in Italy m also in Europe, with its 635 meters of altitude and its 3 km length has rightly earned the nickname of the Great Wall of Piedmont. Just see it to understand how the name describes it fully.

Describe his greatness is not easy, but the numbers speak are nothing compared to the vastness of this fortress than what our eyes can see. It covers well 1.300.00 square meters of land, and consists of three strong and well reduced from 7 28 ribs.
Special and unique scale, which covered 4000 counts steps, so far visited and scale of which there are 2500 steps instead, open staircase from which, among other things, you can enjoy a beautiful view.
Inside there are 5 drawbridges, fewer than 14 bridges and it took 122 years for the construction of this impressive defensive giant.

It was Louis XIV, the Sun King, in 1694 ordered the construction of the first fort that composed the entire fortress, now partially destroyed the fort Mutin. The purpose was to defend these territories, then French, by the armies of Savoy Victor Amadeus II.
In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht the high Val Chisone (Finestrelle and Pragelato) and thus also the strong pass under the kingdom of Sardinia, which considers the fortress built by King Sun insufficient for them to have had that defensive role. It is thus commissioned the construction of a fortress that was the largest but most impregnable. They are well built strong current of St. Charles, Three Teeth, and the valleys, the small Santa Barbara, Carlo Alberto and Doors. All these buildings were and are connected by a covered stairway where people could move quickly in case of siege without taking big risks.
Many of the engineers of the time and the men who took turns in the work to build this huge defensive work.

The Fort St. Charles, now the most visited is the best preserved. It is the strong that is located downstream of the complex. On its parade ground, which is also the first place where visitors will be screened just entered as a whole, those who were overlooked important buildings of the time: the Governor's Palace, the Pavilion of the officers and the distance it chiesa.poco are the gunpowder, the clock tower, artisans workshops, warehouses and stores of weapons. There are also prisons. Imagine life in those times is not easy, then imagine the life of a soldier, suffered the cold winter, shortly heated buildings, unsuitable clothing of the period, the tough guard duty in comparison to the officers' quarters that might seem, even a luxury. But bitter is even more difficult is to imagine the lives of many prisoners who were killed in these places. Cramped rooms cold, damp, overcrowded, where space was insufficient to house the prisoners, where the space in which to move was so little to not even having the chance to lie, to rest, hunger, cold, it's hard to imagine all that offenders , deserters and political prisoners suffered and often paid with their death in these places.

For the record the steps that make up the scale are exactly covered 3996 and that makes it unique not only in Italy but throughout Europe. It runs for over 2 km with small vents which ensure the passage of light and ventilation. Carry on in the gloom that prevails there is something special, imagine men in heavy armor, horses and mules up and down these steps, imagine the sound of their steps, their arms, u little dive in the past we know only from history books . Curious are the pitfalls encountered in it, there are shown by the guide who will accompany you throughout the course of the visit. The purpose of these pitfalls were, once again, destroy the enemy if he managed to enter the covered stairway.

Two museums permanently housed inside the fort: the museum of 3 ° Alpini and animals of the governor. The strong often hosts temporary exhibitions and historical re-enactments. On site events that are advertised from time to time are placed in the strong (www.fortedifenestrelle.com).

Three types of cards that are offered .. A short visit of one hour, for those with limited time available, a quick understanding of this majestic place, a rather more thorough visit of the fort St. Charles runs a piece of the scale covered up to the duration of the Devil's Sentry box 3 hours and finally a fascinating journey into the strong lasting a whole day. From Fort St. Charles, through the Devil's sentry box to Fort Valley. A tour that covers the 635 meters in altitude of the fort, where not only you but also along the scale covered a royal flush, a journey to discover the places and buildings that make up this great fortress, its history and its secrets. The return takes place on the trail that skirts the fort, in a small forest. Truly an itinerary and a trip you will have made known to the fort, its history, its stories and was also one day be a little part.
For obvious reasons the winter limits the tour of the fort at St. Charles only strong, but the mere sight of the entire fortress of snow is just as evocative beauty.

Numerous renovations have restored light and splendor of this vast and valuable whole. Work to be done to prevent the deterioration of time and take away with them the huge architectural heritage and culture of these places, there are still many. In Italy we know that the funds for this kind of work do not come from heaven, and certainly try to go around this huge complex of buildings to their original splendor while the other is desirable is perhaps unrealistic, but believe and dream that this can happen is given to all of it and maybe, with our visit and a little 'can help spread the word of this fortress to live and to do so that this heritage handed down and preserved for future generations.

Edmondo de Amicis said, "One of the most extraordinary buildings that may have never imagined a great landscape painter, a kind of titanic staircase, huge walls like a waterfall in stages, a giant cluster of buildings and sad, which offered them there is something mixture of the sacred and barbaric, warlike as a cemetery or a monstrous castle, built to stop an invasion of peoples, or the terror contener million rebels. One thing strange, large, very beautiful. It was the fortress of Fenestrelle. "

The fortress of Finestrelle is exactly that:. a collection of extraordinary buildings, a place where history has left its mark, where life and death often are mixed, a place where it would be a shame not to go there!