VINADIO, FORTE 1834-1847

During restoration, the need to put Valle Stura back in a defensive state resulted in the choice (by a Sardinian Engineer) of Vinadio as a site for a new fortified structure. This discarded the idea of reconstructing the Demonte fort, demolished in 1796.

The work, which underwent substantial design modifications, expands for about 1200 meters between the course of the river Stura and the mouth of the Neirassa Valley. It is composed of three large bastions and divided into three sectors: the Upper Front in the North, the Attack Front with the French Gate and the Ravelin, and the Lower Front towards the valley floor. At the mouth of Neirassa Valley, the highest structure of the complex was the Blockhouse which dominated the entire stronghold. 

Behind the central bastion, the large Carlo Alberto quarter that had a four-sided layout, housed the stronghold and storehouses.

Having never undergone a fire test, the fortifications became obsolete in the second half of the nineteenth century. Between 1877 and 1881, in Stura, experiments to adapt the gunboats to the advances of the artillery culminated in the production of the original sphere canon artillery.

Disarmed during the First World War after restoration work, the complex can now be visited thanks to the constant commitment of the Municipality of Vinadio and the Associazione Culturale Marcovaldo. 

Piazza Vittorio Veneto (44°18’26” N – 7°10’22” E)

Accessible by car and the inside and outside can be visited.