Usseaux and Fenestrelle Fort

The Chisone Valley (Valle del Chisone in Italian) is south of the Susa Valley, east of the Sestriere winter sports resort, up to the vicinity of the small town of Pinerolo.
Usseaux is a superb little village of stone houses, listed among the “most beautiful villages in Italy”, built on the northern slope of the valley. A few kilometres away is the impressive Fenestrelle Fort.
Not far away, a few kilometres as the crow flies, you can reach the beautiful Fort Serre Marie located at an altitude of 1870 metres, 30 minutes by road, with its lovely landscapes and walks.
On the other side of the valley, opposite Usseaux, which dates back at least to the 11th century, Laux is also a pretty stone village near a charming little lake. The founding of the latter is attributed to a group of exiles from Lyon and Provence at the beginning of the 13th century, during the persecutions and massacres of the Albigensians by the Church and the Kingdom of France.
To the north of the valley, between it and the Susa Valley, the Orsiera Rocciavrè park includes in particular a beautiful section on the heights of Usseaux where beautiful alpine pastures stretch out, along with a small lake called “frog lake”, Lago delle Rane in Italian.

Usseaux

Usseaux is a small village classified among “the most beautiful villages in Italy”, with its stone houses, its murals and its flower-filled streets.
In the village streets, the facades have been covered by 40 murals created on the walls of the houses, the bread oven, the washhouses, the fountains and the Canton Mill. The latter is very well preserved and still works. It can be visited on Sundays in August.

Fenestrelle Fort

The gigantic Fenestrelle Fortress was built in the 18th and 19th centuries, with its impressive 3-5 km long wall and its underground passages, dominating and above all barring the Chisone Valley, on the road to the Montgenèvre pass.
It is in fact the largest fortified structure in Europe, covering nearly 700 metres of elevation change. It has kept its original structure, unlike the other Piedmontese forts of the 18th century. Since 1999, it has been the symbol monument of the Province of Turin.
It includes numerous small forts (San Carlo, Tre Denti, Sant’Elmo and Valli), powder magazines, a medieval core that was once a fortress, a barracks district, etc. All of it is connected by an admirable structure that makes the edifice even more unique and evocative: its covered staircase carved into a 2 km tunnel, with nearly 4000 steps. The central point is the parade ground of Forte San Carlo with the major buildings such as the governor’s palace or the church.

On the other side of the valley you can also go to the ruins of Fort Mutin, located opposite the Fenestrelle fort, with a beautiful view of it.

Information

• Fenestrelle Fort: www.fortedifenestrelle.it (official website), en.wikipedia.org
• Usseaux: fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usseaux, borghipiubelliditalia.it/borgo/usseaux
• Chisone Valley: turismotorino.org, it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_Chisone

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