Archeologia di una frontiera. La difesa del colle del Piccolo San Bernardo (La Thuile/Séez) tra XVII e XX secolo
Résumé
Archeology along a frontier: the Defense of the Hill of Piccolo San Bernardo (La Thuile/Séez) from the 17th to the 20th century. Research by the section for Medieval and Modern archeology which was part of a wide range project called "Alpis Graia. Archéologie sans frontières au Col du Petiti-Saint-Bernard", was conducted on the hill of Piccolo San Bernardo and through an extensive archeological analysis of the territory supported by a specific archival research campaign made it possible to trace the history of, among other things, an Alpine frontier territory. Researchers began by establishing the main characteristics of the road system over the pass and the consequent necessity for defense works and then proceeded to document the organization of the complex territorial defense system along the frontier and its history. The preliminary study of the road system made it possible to establish the substantial stability of the routes up until the second half of the 19th century when the Route Nationale 90 (1866) and the Strada Statale 26 (1873) were built. This century ends the long period during which the frontier was constantly involved in various building projects (entrenched camps, battle stations, redoubts, barracks, and hill forts connected by specially built roads) which when summed together created a vast defense system which was totally integrated into the physical appearance of the territory and remained in use until the end of the 18th century. The second and final stage in the history of the hill is that which goes from the end of the 19th century, when the defenses were concentrated in just a few forts, up until the decades between the two world wars, when the monumental systems of Séré de Rivières, Maginot and Vallo Alpino were built.