Fenestrelle Fort

The Fenestrelle Fortress, better known as the Fenestrelle Fort 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 130 hectares (320 acres).

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 and stands at altitudes between 1,100 and 1,800 m. 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).

Text adapted from “Fenestrelle Fort” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Fenestrelle Fort ranks #1,141 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #88 of the 452 mapped in Italy. Founded 1728, it is older than 20% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 525 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 8,367 times in the last 60 days, more than 91% of the atlas. Wikidata records about 50,000 visitors in 2022. The nearest day-trip guide is Turin, 49 km away. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.

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