The Fenestrelle Fortress Italy - Val Chisone | Drone Aerial Footage
Fenestrelle is a fortress overlooking Fenestrelle. It is the symbol of the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northern Italy. It is the biggest alpine fortification in Europe, having a surface area of 1,300,000 m². The fortress, built by Savoy between 1728 and 1850 under the design of the architect Ignazio Bertola, guards the access to Turin via the Chisone valley. The territory was acquired in 1709 by the Duchy of Savoy (later known as the Kingdom of Sardinia) after the defeat of the French at fort Mutin (Fenestrelle).
The history of modern fortifications in the Fenestrelle area, began in 1690, when the King of France Louis XIV appointed Nicolas Catinat as commander of the French Army against the Duke of Savoy’s Army during the Nine Years' War. General Catinat, better known in Piedmont for his victory at the Battle of Staffarda, the destruction of the Castle of Avigliana and the fire at the Castle of Rivoli, understood the danger posed by the Chisone Valley for the French Army and decided to build 3 small redoubts and a fort in the Fenestrelle area. More specifically, in 1694 Nicolas Catinat obtained the approval of Louis XIV to build Fort Mutin. During the War of the Spanish Succession, this imposing fortification was besieged in August 1708 by Victor Amadeus II’s troops and conquered in 15 days.
At the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, France officially ceded Fenestrelle and the upper Val Chisone to the Duchy of Savoy as required by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The treaty gave the Kingdom of Sicily to the Duchy of Savoy, making Victor Amadeus II the first king of the House of Savoy. For political reasons the Kingdom of Sicily was then exchanged with the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1720.
Fort Mutin was restored, but Victor Amadeus II found it insufficient for the protection of the Val Chisone. So he instructed military architect Ignazio Bertola to design and build a complex of forts in Fenestrelle. They were connected by a 3 km long wall, an indoor staircase of 3,996 steps unique in Europe and an outside staircase of 2,500 steps. The construction began in the summer of 1728 and ended in 1793; then it started again in 1836, ending definitively in 1850. Besides Ignazio Bertola, other engineers and military architects worked at Fenestrelle; among them: Vittorio Amedeo Varino de La Marche, Lorenzo Bernardino Pinto (who was one of Bertola’s apprentices and also worked at the Fort of Exilles), Nicolis di Robilant and Carlo Andrea Rana.
During the Napoleonic Era when Fenestrelle was again under the French influence, it was used as a prison by the French Empire: notable prisoners were Joseph de Maistre and Bartolomeo Pacca. The prison also held Pierre Picaud, whose story was the inspiration for Edmond Dantès, the main character in Dumas’s Count of Monte Cristo. The Kingdom of Sardinia locked political prisoners, Mazzini's supporters and common criminals in the fort, including the Archbishop Luigi Fransoni.
In 1861, after the unification of Italy, some Kingdom of the Two Sicilies supporters (mainly soldiers, but the number is unknown) were put into the fort, which for some revisionist academics became a concentration camp. Several Garibaldi's and Papal States supporters were also locked up.
After the Kingdom of Italy joined the Triple Alliance in 1882, the fort was upgraded. After 1887, it became the headquarters of the Fenestrelle battalion of the 3rd Alpini Regiment.
After World War II, the fort was abandoned and left to decay, most of the available material being plundered. In 1990 a redevelopment action, guided by a group of volunteers, known as Progetto San Carlo (ONLUS) was started. In the 1999 it has become the symbol of the former Province of Turin and in 2007 the World Monuments Fund has included it among the 100 most important archaeological sites of the world.
Il Forte di Fenestrelle, situato in Val Chisone (Piemonte), è costituito da tre complessi fortificati: il San Carlo, il Tre Denti e il Delle Valli, uniti da un tunnel al cui interno corre la scala coperta più lunga d'Europa, con ben 4.000 gradini. Possiede una superficie di 1.350.000 mq di compendio e una lunghezza di 3 Km distribuita su 650 m di dislivello. Per maggiori info visitate il sito: fortedifenestrelle.it
Hardware used for filming: DJI Inspire 2 & Zenmuse X7
Extra gear for the Inspire 2 (Ultimadrone) available at:
Lenses: 50 &24mm
ISO: 100 - EI Rec. 709 50ms
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Church of Mary Magdalene, Alba, Cuneo, Piedmont, Italy, Europe
In contrast to the prevailing medieval character of the city stands on Via Vittorio Emanuele, the Baroque church of Santa Maria Maddalena. Built on the site of the former fifteenth-century building, the new church was commissioned by Count Carlo Giacinto Roero architect Bernardo Vittone, who finished the work in 1749, as the date on the scroll above the altar of the Blessed Margherita of Savoy, above wooden compass, in the counter, and the lateral portal. On the impact is the brick façade remained incomplete and characterized by rows of bricks by clamping and sinuous and dynamic including patterns Borromini and Guarini. The facade is decorated with an artistic wooden portal with moldings on which are carved the three crossed arrows, iconographic attributes of the Blessed Margherita of Savoy. It is surmounted by an oval stucco and a bezel. The exterior rude hides inside a small living room of Baroque plant elliptical inscribed in a rectangle. The interior is rhythmically punctuated by eight Corinthian columns alternating with pilasters and covered by the dome ovata, lit by a lantern on top. The illusionistic decoration of the time, by the painter of figure Michele Antonio Milocco between 1747 and 1750, focuses on the exaltation of the Blessed Margherita of Savoy, on the celebration of the Dominican order and sull'omaggio the Savoy dynasty, represented in a vortex of clouds. Dedicated to the Blessed is also the eighteenth century left altar adorned by fine polychrome marble. Above the table and protected by a grate centinata there is the urn of the Blessed, embossed silver, followed in 1840 by the goldsmith Peter Borrani of Turin. On the opposite side, the altar dedicated to St. Rose is characterized by the eighteenth-century marble table and an illusionist painting. The high altar is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, depicted in the altarpiece painted by Giovanni Battista Biscarra oval in 1825. The upper, embellished by two spiral columns and the crowning of the Savoy from the gun, is built between 1689 and 1691 by Giuseppe Maria Carlone and Francesco Piazzoli for existing side altar of the Blessed Margherita and transferred altar by Vittone. On the sides are the statues of the Blessed Margherita eighteenth and St. Rose of Lima. Behind the presbytery is the chorus of trapezoidal housing 48 stalls in walnut, with armrests carved scrolls, backs and pews inlaid with cross motifs, clamshell and spearhead. The vault, built by James Rapa in 1734, presents glimpses of baroque architectural perspectives of great dramatic effect. Among the furnishings, finally, have to report the century wooden crucifix and the bust of Christ the sculptor Pietro Canonica.
MONDOVI' PIAZZA-SANTUARIO DI VICOFORTE-LA VIA DELLE CAPPELLE
Il tracciato religioso turistico che unisce Piazza al meraviglioso Santuario di Vicoforte, ripreso da me in una passeggiata di una cinquantina di minuti, e velocizzato...come se si andasse in bici da corsa, anche se le scalinate...Provate a fare l'intero percorso, è veramente suggestivo, magari a passo normale...cliccate se volete vedere il video sul Santuario, fuori e dentro. La musica in sottofondo è di Roger Subirana.