Forte Centrale: A Fort in the Melogno Defensive Barrier
Site at a Glance
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Italian
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Fort
On this page6 sections
History
Forte Centrale is a late nineteenth-century fort at Melogno Pass in Savona province, Italy. The Royal Italian Army built it between 1883 and 1895 as part of the Melogno defensive barrier, a system intended to protect Lower Piedmont and the Ligurian Apennines from possible land attacks from the Ligurian coast.
The fort served alongside Forts Tortagna and Settepani and a supporting battery on Bric Merizzo. Its strategic role ended during the twentieth century. Formerly military property, Forte Centrale was placed under protection under Italian Law No. 1089 of 1 June 1939, legislation safeguarding things of artistic or historical interest.
Remains
Layout and construction
The polygonal fort occupies the saddle of Melogno Pass, between the upper Bormida Valley and the Finalese hinterland. A moat surrounds the complex, which Provincial Road 490 crosses on its route between the coast at Finale Ligure and the regional boundary with Piedmont. The main barracks faces the pass, while four artillery positions stand on a separate hill outside the central complex.
Main barracks
The two-storey barracks retains original metal closures and windows edged in brick. On the ground floor, a long corridor runs past small courtyards, rooms, and storerooms. The upper floor held service rooms; traces of its original wooden flooring and barrel vaults, continuous tunnel-shaped ceilings, survive. The building is dilapidated and partly abandoned.
Artillery positions
The four positions accommodated defensive and offensive artillery, including large-calibre guns. The heavy weapons stood in the open and faced the coast.
Access to the artillery positions
The positions were initially reached either by drawbridge or by a pedestrian walkway, which remains visible but precarious. Access was later altered to pass through a dark passage beneath the rear moat of the central barracks, followed by a drawbridge that is now in dangerous condition.
