Forte Machaby - Forte Lucini, Military fort in Arnad, Italy.

Forte Machaby, also called Forte Lucini, is a military complex on the Machaby promontory in Arnad, made up of three parts: the "Tenente Lucini" defensive barracks at 717 m, the ruined Batteria di Machaby at 843 m with its open cannon emplacements, counterscarp wall and wide ditch, and the largely destroyed Batteria del Colle La Cou at 1425 m on the Tête de Cou. The barracks stands among centuries-old chestnut trees and, since restoration, has a transparent polycarbonate roof over its inner courtyard.

Around 1880-1885 the military engineers built the defensive barracks of Machaby on the remains of a 17th-century fort, watching over Arnad and the Dora Baltea valley. Above it stood the Batteria di Machaby, armed with six 149 G cannons to stop enemy troops from turning the right flank of Fort Bard. A second battery with six 149 G guns was later built on the summit of Tête de Cou. The fort was bought by the municipality of Arnad in February 1968.

Since the 2010s the barracks "Tenente Lucini" has housed a hostel and the Centro di Formazione Alpinistica, opened in March 2012 after restoration. The centre serves climbers heading for the nearby crag called il Paretone. The fort is open only during the hostel's opening months.

The fort is reached on foot in about 20 minutes along a stretch of the 19th-century military road, near the Sanctuary of Notre-Dame-des-Neiges. A 2005 landslide interrupted the section of that road connecting to the SS26 near Arnad at about 500 m, but the path from the road by the lower Vallaise castle to the sanctuary and Machaby was not affected. The interior can be visited only while the hostel and the Centro di Formazione Alpinistica are open.

The complex has three parts: the barracks "Tenente Lucini" at 717 m, the ruined Batteria Machaby at 843 m with its open cannon emplacements, a counterscarp wall and a wide ditch, and the almost destroyed Batteria del Colle La Cou at 1425 m, an hour and a half away on foot along the mule track.