Scheide
Work
Facades
Slate
ReView
I-don’t-trust-you-line
Scenes of Serdica
Gender+Photography
Portrait
Noam Zur
Single Frames
About
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Imprint
The Vallo Alpino del Littorio (in English the Fascist Alpine Wall) was a defense system along the Italian border during World War II. This defense system was never fully completed and was not heavily contested. The remains of the Vallo Alpino are a testimony to fascist Italy, which embodied a system of isolation, control and power projection. Bunkers and defensive structures were built out of fear and mistrust of neighbors and even allies. The northern front in particular, in what is now South Tyrol, illustrates the ideological fissures within the fascist alliances and is a reminder of important historical actions. Despite its historical significance, the Vallo Alpino has been largely suppressed from the collective memory to this day. This circumstance underlines the need for an active and multi-layered reappraisal. In this context, the artistic examination opens up a promising opportunity to generate attention, tell historical narratives and open up new perspectives on supposedly familiar structures. The Vallo Alpino is now completely abandoned by the Italian military and owned by municipalities and private individuals. As a result, some of the bunkers are being repurposed. The transformation of the facilities into civilian spaces, museums, storage sites or artistic interventions demonstrates that a critically respectful approach to contaminated heritage is possible without suppressing the historical context. Such approaches link the past with the present and demonstrate that even places of mistrust and violence can have a future - as memorials, as learning spaces and as open spaces for new discourses.