Pioneers Beneath the Alps

In the heart of the mountain, where light is artificial and time seems suspended, a new idea of Europe begins to take shape. No longer a border, but a passageway.

In the 1970s, between Italy and France, the Fréjus Road Tunnel marked the transition from a world that adapted to nature to one capable of passing through it.

After a century in which rail traffic alone was no longer sufficient, the automobile demanded space, speed and continuity. And the mountain answered.

Nearly 13 kilometres of rock were conquered by Webuild using what was then pioneering technology: electro-hydraulic drilling, applied for the first time to a tunnel of such length. The system accelerated construction times and improved working conditions, supported by machines specially designed for drilling, loading and ground reinforcement. Around it, three ventilation shafts made possible what had once seemed impossible.

On 5 April 1979, the final diaphragm fell. Italy and France met beneath the mountain.

Facts & Figures

In its first twenty years, more than 20 million vehicles crossed this invisible corridor. A tunnel 4.5 metres high, 9 metres wide and 12,895 metres long — measuring not only distance, but a new idea of connection.

And perhaps the most remarkable achievement lies not in the technology, but in the people: pioneers of safety standards far ahead of their time.