There are mountain roads with complex layouts that pass through truly beautiful landscapes. One of them is in Italy.<\/p>\n
Between 1881 and 1885, the Royal Italian Army built an unpaved military road in the Alps<\/strong> to connect several forts in the area. The road linked Colla di Sanson\u2014a mountain pass 1,694 meters above sea level, located near the French border\u2014with Colle di Tenda, situated at 1,870 meters, also along the border. In 1881, the Forte Centrale was constructed<\/strong>; it was a trapezoidal military fortification equipped with 12 cannons, located at an altitude of 1,920 meters at Colle di Tenda. The purpose of this network of fortifications was to prevent a French invasion<\/strong> during a period of intense hostility between the two nations\u2014a tension sparked in 1881 by the French invasion of Tunisia, an African country that the Kingdom of Italy considered to be within its own sphere of influence.<\/p>\n This animosity led Italy to enter into the Triple Alliance with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1882<\/strong>, despite Italy\u2019s traditional enmity toward the Austrians (the empire held control over Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia\u2014Italian-speaking territories that the Kingdom of Italy claimed as its own). Italy abandoned the Triple Alliance in 1915<\/strong>\u2014before having entered the First World War\u2014and joined the Triple Entente (France, Russia, and the United Kingdom), declaring war on its former allies. Consequently, the Alpine fortifications along the French border were abandoned<\/strong>, as Italy focused all its efforts on the Alpine front against the Austro-Hungarian Empire\u2014a conflict that proved to be a veritable slaughterhouse for both sides<\/strong>, resulting in the deaths of more than 2 million Italians and over 1.4 million Austro-Hungarians.<\/p>\n Between 1938 and 1939, Mussolini\u2019s dictatorship expanded this military road<\/strong> to make it passable for heavy vehicles, as part of the so-called Western Alpine Wall\u2014a defensive line established in anticipation of a potential war with France. Today, this road has become a popular route for off-road vehicle enthusiasts.<\/strong> Known as the Alta Via del Sale (High Salt Road), it is now a toll route. You can find more information on its official website<\/a>. If you would like to see this road without leaving home, Imagine World Tour<\/a> recently published a video traveling along this route<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
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