Starting from the need to provide greater historical keys for reading the Fort, the great tourist-cultural center of the Autonomous Region of Valle d’Aosta, it became necessary to expand – over time and space – the knowledge of the nineteenth-century fortress in the long history of fortification systems through a reading of the Alps as a limit, obstacle, natural barrier, mobile frontier, territory, and line of inhabited and lived political border, crossed and traveled, defended and fortified.
To the ambitious museographic project that already includes the Museum of the Alps, the thematic routes The Alps of the Children and the Prisons alongside spaces dedicated to international temporary exhibitions, the Fort adds a unique precious piece.
Located in the Ferdinando Work, situated on the first level of the fortified rock of Bard, the museum covers an area of over two thousand square meters.
The new fascinating historical path develops in three sections: the “Museum of the Fort and Fortifications”, “The Fortified Alps (1871-1946)” and “The Alps, a frontier?”.
The first part, the “Museum of the Fort and Fortifications”, set up in the Upper Ferdinando Work, presents a series of historical settings accompanied by models, films, and authentic weapons, with a narrative itinerary highlights the evolution of the fortresses of the Western Alps through the progression of weapons and military strategies, materials and construction techniques, starting from the Roman era to reach the new architectural and ballistic solutions of the twentieth century. The visit allows rapid learning: thanks to the cinematic reproduction of famous film clips containing war scenes (The Crusades – Kingdom of Heaven, Ridley Scott, 2005; Masada, Boris Sagal, 1981; Il mestiere delle armi, Ermanno Olmi, 2001; Alatriste, the destiny of a warrior, Augustin Diaz Yanks, 2006; The Last Valley, James Clavell, 1971; Revolution, Hugh Hudson, 1985; The Last of the Mohicans, Michael Mann, 1992; Glory. Men of Glory, Edward Zwick, 1989, Cold Mountain, Anthony Minghella, 2003) and narrative routes, period and contemporary cartography and scenographies recreated with weapons and scale reconstructions of sections of fortification walls, the viewer is projected into the era pertaining to each single room in a journey in which they are the protagonist.
The second part of the museum, “The Fortified Alps (1871-1946)”, placed in the Lower Ferdinando Work rooms, is dedicated to the transformations that occurred between the end of the 19th and the 20th century, and places the Fort of Bard within the system of nineteenth-century fortresses. Inside, scale models and scenic reconstructions are presented, aimed not only at highlighting the features considered most representative of fortifications in the Alpine arc but also seeking to make the Alps themselves the protagonists, a theater of technological evolution that has led them to become “Italy’s frontier”. A narrative in the evolution of fortresses through the progression of weapons, the changing of materials and construction techniques, the gradual thickening of walls, the location of Forts in increasingly dominant places, the evolution of strategic methods and architectural solutions, all constantly related to the offensive capabilities of the enemy. The theme of the militarized mountain is touched upon in the sections dedicated to the First and Second World Wars and the Resistance, always focusing on the evocative impact entrusted to a multimedia approach.
The third and final part of the museum poses the question “The Alps, a frontier?” with the aim of placing the visitor in a position to reflect on the path taken and the meaning to give to the term frontier: border or barrier? Obstacle or connection?
This outlines an exhibition path that conveys a complex and structured vision not only of the Fort of Bard but also of the historical, social, cultural and geopolitical context within which it is placed in different historical periods: a journey into the past that ends with a highly topical reflection on the present.
The visitor thus becomes the protagonist of a dialogue with the place in which they find themselves, in search of an identity, that of the Alps, in continuous evolution, which becomes the crossroads of the great events of the past and of that history of men made up of simple memories and actions.
The Ferdinando. Museum of Fortifications and Frontiers
Fort of Bard. Aosta Valley
Opening hours: from Tuesday to Friday: 10.00 – 18.00 | Saturday, Sunday and holidays: 10.00 – 19.00
closed on Monday
Prices: Full 9.00 euros | Reduced 7.00 euros | Reduced children (6-18 years) and schools: 5.00 euros
Combined ticket adults (Museum of the Alps, The Ferdinando, Prisons) 15.00 euros
Guided tour (for groups) up to 25 people 80.00 euros + reduced entrance ticket
Rates include admission to the exhibition Paolo Pellegrin. Frontiers.
Information for the public
Fort of Bard Association | T. + 39 0125 833811 | info@fortedibard.it | www.fortedibard.it
Guided tour booking | T. + 39 0125 833817 | prenotazioni@fortedibard.it
