Testa dell'Assietta, Mountain summit in Metropolitan City of Turin, Italy.
Testa dell'Assietta is a 2,566-metre summit in the Cottian Alps, on the border between the Chisone and Susa valleys in the Metropolitan City of Turin. Its top and northern slope lie within the Gran Bosco di Salbertrand nature park. A dirt road, the Strada dell'Assietta, runs to just below the peak, which is reached in a few minutes by a short path.
In July 1747 the summit and its slopes were the site of the Battle of Assietta, in which Piedmontese forces repelled a French attack; more than 5,000 men died on the field, most of them French. The French general Louis Charles Armand Fouquet de Belle-Isle was killed there, and a stele a few metres from the obelisk marks the spot.
A stone obelisk topped with a bronze eagle sits at the summit, placed by the Italian Alpine Club in 1882. This monument marks an important moment in local memory and draws the attention of visitors reaching the peak.
The summit is a short walk of a few minutes from where the unpaved Strada dell'Assietta ends just below the top. The easiest ascent starts at Balboutet (1,557 m) or Pourrières (1,420 m), hamlets of Usseaux, passing Cerogne (1,742 m), Alpe Assietta (2,270 m) and the Colle dell'Assietta (2,472 m); allow at least three hours and over 1,000 m of climb.
The summit obelisk, erected in 1882, is topped by a bronze eagle, the symbol of the Club Alpino Italiano. A few metres away stands a stele to the French general Louis Charles Armand Fouquet de Belle-Isle, killed there in July 1747 during the battle that left over 5,000 dead on the field, mostly French.
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