Forte Cassa

Forte Cassa was a pentagonal fort with a protective moat and two overlapping levels of fire, built between 1877 and 1882 northeast of the lake then on the Mont-Cenis plateau. It was demolished in 1968 for the new dam; only the Tagliata del Cassa and its moat remain, visible as a long dark stone wall on the grassy slope.

Forte Cassa was built between 1877 and 1882 as one of the three great forts of the first Moncenisio barrier, together with Varisello and Roncia. It was a pentagonal work with a moat and two overlapping orders of fire, reached by a 1,200 m military road from Gran Croce di Venaus. Disarmed in the first decade of the 1900s, it served as a depot and barracks, was ceded to France after 1947, and was demolished in 1968 during the enlargement of the Moncenisio lake; only the Tagliata del Cassa and its moat survive.

The fort itself no longer exists: it was demolished in 1968 and absorbed into the retaining wall of the enlarged Lac du Mont-Cenis dam. What remains and can be visited is the Tagliata del Cassa, about 400 m long, with its moat, two fixed bridges and two open-air gun platforms. It lies north of the dam, reached on foot from the plateau; the military road from Gran Croce di Venaus climbs roughly 1200 m up the slopes of Monte Lamet.

The only surviving parts are the Tagliata del Cassa, a 400-metre blocking line begun in the 1890s, and the moat in front of it; both lie north of the dam and escaped the 1968 demolition. Its entrance stood at the top, reached by an internal road lined with magazines and barracks for 120 men, with a snow guard at the northern end.