Vallo Alpino

The “Vallo Alpino” is a military defensive system located on Italy’s Alpine frontiers that dates back to the Fascist era. It stretched from the Ligurian to the Adriatic Sea and consisted of thousands of bunkers, divided into three belts that were situated from the national border up to 80 km inland.

The first works began in 1931 at the border crossings and were intended for offensive military strategies: the annexation of Austria to the German Reich was to be prevented at all costs so as to preserve the former as a buffer state. The Anschluss of Austria in March 1938 led to a radical turnaround: the “Vallo Alpino” was transformed from a base in support of military operations in neighbouring Austria into a system of national defence. The 26 bunkers completed by the end of 1938 were to be increased to approximately 1,000 but, when construction ended in October 1942, only 306 bunkers had been completed, while another 135 individual works remained unfinished.