The Forte Montecchio Nord stands on a hill at Colico, where the Valtellina and the Valchiavenna meet: built between 1912 and 1914 to defend the northern border, it never fired in war, and is today a museum that can only be visited on guided tours.
History
The Kingdom of Italy had it built as protection against a possible attack by Germany or Austria-Hungary through Switzerland, at the point where the roads of the Splügen, the Maloja, the Bernina and the Stelvio converge. It belongs to the Northern Frontier, the defensive system also, improperly, called the “Cadorna line”. It was named in 1939 after Aldo Lusardi (Wikipedia). In those years the garrison of the Border Guard held Colico until the Liberation.
The fort was never used in the Great War, nor in the second. It made itself heard just once: on 27 April 1945 the guns fired on the Italian-German column which, after leaving Mussolini to the partisans at Dongo, was heading up the opposite shore of the lake towards Switzerland; Wikipedia specifies they were five and none hit. After use as a powder store in the 1950s the fort was demilitarised in 1981, in 1998 passed to the Comune of Colico and since 2009 has been run by the Museo della Guerra Bianca in Adamello (Wikipedia).
What to see
The complex is made up of two parade grounds, the main building and the battery, with the stores on the first floor and, on the second, the command post topped by the four armoured turrets of the guns. Visit Colico calls them Schneider guns, while Wikipedia describes them as two Schneiders and two Italian pieces built under French licence, still working and mounted in rotating installations. The guided visit shows the architectural and organisational solutions of the time, some of them advanced, and rooms such as the barracks, the infirmary, the field kitchen and the hand-painted map of the operations room. From above you see the Lario, the Valtellina, the Valchiavenna and the Pian di Spagna reserve. The fort’s site calls it Europe’s best preserved Great War fortress; Visit Colico writes that it is among the best preserved.
Practical information
- Address: via alle Torri 8, Colico, about ten minutes on foot from the station according to the fort’s site. Phone +39 0341 940322, email info@fortemontecchionord.it.
- Entry is only by hourly guided tour of about 50 minutes, in Italian, English, French or German. Tickets (Visit Colico): full 10 euros, ages 6 to 17 6 euros, free up to age 5 and for Museum members; combined with the Forte di Fuentes 15 euros (8 for young people). Groups by booking: 70 euros for up to 25 people, plus the ticket. A guide a few years old gave lower prices: those of Visit Colico count.
- 2026 hours according to Visit Colico (consulted on 4 October 2026): in October Thursday 1 and Friday 2 from 2pm to 4pm, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 5pm; in November Sunday 1 from 10am to 5pm, then Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 4pm; from 26 to 30 December and from 1 to 6 January 2027 from 2pm to 4pm. On other days you can visit by booking. To be rechecked every season.
- The two forts are linked by the Sentiero dei Forti, a loop of about 8.5 kilometres, waymarked by the CAI, with 150 metres of ascent and two and a half hours of walking if you visit the Fuentes (Trek’n’Trip, an unofficial site; Visit Colico rates it tourist, T). Free unpaved parking in via Forte di Fuentes 1 or paid in via alle Torri 33.
