Bard Fortress (Italy)

The fort of Bard is a fortified complex that was rebuilt in the 19th century by the House of Savoy on the rock overlooking the village of Bard, in the Aosta Valley.

After a long period of neglect, the fort has been totally restored with interventions inspired by conservative recovery: it was opened to visitors in January 2006. It currently hosts exhibitions of ancient, modern, contemporary and photography art. The fort is also home to three permanent itineraries: The Museum of the Alps, the Children's Alps and The Prisons, as well as a fourth under construction (The museum of the Fort).

The fort is often mentioned in the early medieval chronicles of famous travelers who traveled through the Aosta Valley and were amazed by its strategic perfection: in 1034 the fort was defined as impregnable oppidum; at the time it was under the dominion of Boso, viscount of Aosta, and his successors remained in possession of it until the middle of the 13th century.

Subsequently, it was occupied by the powerful feudal lordship of the Bard, local counts probably employed by the bishopric of Aosta. Ugo was the last descendant of the Bard family to garrison the castle: around the middle of the 13th century Amedeo IV of Savoy personally wanted to have control of the fort, taking possession of it and placing an imposing garrison there. The Castle was later under the dominion of the Savoy for a long time.

In 1661 Carlo Emanuele II, Duke of Savoy, had the garrison of the duchy installed in the Valley, concentrating the artillery here after the dismantling of the nearby strongholds of Verrès - in the castle of Verrès - and of Montjovet - in the castle of Saint-Germain. Furthermore, further consolidation and strengthening works of the defensive structures were then completed in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The fortress increased its fame when in 1704, during the war of the Spanish succession, Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy managed to hinder the French descent into Italy.

It increased further in 1800, when none other than Napoleon Bonaparte during the Italian Campaign was stopped by the defensive outpost of the Austro-Piedmontese army (see box). Paradoxically, however, holding its own against the French, the fortress also caused its own ruin: the vilain castel de Bard was razed to the ground by order of Napoleon himself, annoyed by the strenuous resistance of the Italian and Austrian soldiers who had caused him such a shame, and to permanently eliminate the anti-French stronghold.

Thirty years had to pass before Carlo Felice di Savoia, in fear of new attacks by the French, entrusted the task of drawing up a reconstruction project to the military engineer Francesco Antonio Olivero: the rebuilding works lasted for eight years, from 1830 to 1838, allowing the construction of different buildings arranged on different floors: placed lower down, on two distinct levels and designed in the shape of a pincer, the Opera Ferdinando and the Opera Mortai; in the central part, the Opera Vittorio; higher up, the Opera Gola and the Opera Carlo Alberto.

The soldiers who could be housed in the 283 rooms of the fort were 416 (double in the case of the use of beds on the ground). The whole also involved the construction of 176 service rooms overlooking a large internal courtyard that was to function as a parade ground. The system of autonomous structures equipped with protective casemates ensured mutual defense in the event of an attack. Ammunition and food supplies for three months were kept in large warehouses located at the Opera Mortai, also guarded like the rest of the fortress - by about fifty guns.

Fallen into disuse at the end of the 19th century, the fort was then used as a military prison and, subsequently until 1975 as a powder magazine for the Italian Army, after which the property passed to the Autonomous Region of Valle d'Aosta.

After a partial reopening in the early eighties, the restoration work began, which lasted over ten years and in 2006 the Museum of the Alps was opened.

Bard's fort is at the center of the opening scene of the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie, directed by Joss Whedon. In the film, the fort is presented as the secret base of the fictional organization known as HYDRA, and is placed in the fictional European nation of Sokovia.

In 2018, some scenes from the film Never passed by Christian Orlandi were shot at the Bard fort.

[Source: Wikipedia]