Fortificazioni nell’arco alpino

In our Alps the defensive works constitute a unique heritage that deserves to be preserved and adequately valorised. From the large barrier fortress that closed the passage of the valley to the enemy armies, to the scant traces of the ancient trenches erected to defend a hill or a passage of great importance, up to the concrete casemates of the Vallo Alpino, the testimonies of a past that was not always easy are once again attracting great interest among the public who love the mountains. This book describes the main typologies into which it is possible to divide the fortifications that populated the Italian side of the Alps, starting from the 16th century until the more recent past. Each chapter, with the exception of the first, which offers an overview of the history of modern fortification, is dedicated to a very specific typological scheme: the reader's interest is focused on an ideal example of a fortified structure, which is dissected in all its parts and examined in watermark. We start from the outside of the building, from the general conformation, to describe the fire fronts and the structures for close defense: then, once past the entrance, the internal particularities are described, the accommodation of the troops and the officers, the rooms of the logistical services, the powder and ammunition depots, the active elements of the complex (casemates, armored turrets, etc.), the armament used, with continuous references to the reality present in the territory in actually built works. A journey through history but also through the evolution of construction techniques, with the use of increasingly refined and resistant materials, from cut stone to concrete and steel. The rediscovery of a fascinating world, dominated by a few but firm common ideals: the urgent need to close the doors of the Po Valley at all costs to invaders about to cross the Alps to descend into Italy, and the desire to affirm the one's own power, one's own pride. A world which, despite the damage caused by the devastating looting of the recovering people, still represents, due to the quantity and quality of works erected in all the valleys, one of the most emblematic aspects of the progressive anthropisation of the mountains.