Fenestrelle

Fenestrelle sits at 1,154 meters in the middle of Val Chisone, fifty kilometers west of Torino on the road toward Sestriere. The Romans called this point Finis Terrae Cotii, the border of Cottius's land, and from the twelfth century onward the valley held a strong Waldensian community. What gives Fenestrelle its current identity is the fortress on the ridge above the village. Construction began in 1728 under engineer Ignazio Bertola, commissioned by Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy to secure the border against France after the Treaty of Utrecht handed Val Chisone to Piedmont. Work continued for around 120 years. The result is three connected fortifications, Forte San Carlo at the bottom, Forte Tre Denti in the middle and Forte Delle Valli at the top, linked by a covered staircase of nearly 4,000 steps, the longest in Europe. The whole complex covers 130 hectares and runs three kilometers up the ridge. It is the largest alpine fortification in Europe and the second-largest stone fortification in the world after the Great Wall of China.