Linea Cadorna

The Cadorna Line is a thick network of military fortifications built to defend the northern border of Italy close to Switzerland. The fortified lines protected the Italian territory between the Gran San Bernardo and Valtellina.
Within the Ossola these fortifications spread out between the Toce plain and Monte Massone in the territory of Ornavasso with a sloping difference of over 2000 mt.
Committed during WWI by General Luigi Cadorna, Chief of Staff of the Italian Armed Forces up to 1917, the fortifications were built between 1916 and 1918 to defend the Italian border from a possible attack through Switzerland by the German-Austrian army. The fortified complex includes a thick network of roads, trenches, military muletracks, look-out and artillery posts, field hospitals logistic structures and command centers.
Today the Cadorna Line represent a rich excursion and trekking patrimony used also by the Civil Protection; as a complex of military archaeology it is quite striking not only for the grandeur of the works but also because through it one can relive a moment of the history of this century; as a point of excellence it is a demonstration of the popular will to protect and valorize it as a symbol of the values connected to it, the ingenuity, the industriousness and the continuity of a possibly future pacific use.

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