SESTRIERE life

ENGLISH VERSION
Architecture
WHEN THE COLLE BECAME SESTRIERE
The towers, designed in the 1930s by
the engineer Bonade Bottino, were a
demnstration of Italian genius.
SESTRIERE- The image of Sestriere is irrevocably
associated with its towers which have
made it unique worldwide. Perhaps though,
not everyone know that the story of Sestriere
originated from these very towers. It was in
1930 when embroiled in a crisis in the automobile
industry, Senatore Agnelli decided to
invest in sport in the mountains. In particular,
he wanted to create at the Colle, touristic
buildings, deploying the engineer Vittorio
Bonadé Bottino to study and realize ski lifts
and hotels for tourists.
At 2035 metres there were only immense expanses
of snow on the Colle and where
green meadows, pastures for feeding animals,
emerged for only a few summer
months. The only constructions present were
a little inn ‘Sestrieres’, open only for the summer
period, the Regina Pacis Chapel and the
obelisk which was erected to commemorate
the 100th year of the opening of the
Napoleonic route.
The territory where Sestriere rises today is a
the head of a unique commune, with a chief
town and comes under the title Cesana Torinese.
In 1931 the works to realize the
Alpette-Sises cable car commenced which
has been in operation since 18th January
1932. Skiing quickly entered into the hearts
of hundreds of pioneers.
The echo was such that the Senatore who
was in favour of a quantative solution, using
middle classes and clerical workers, as opposed
to his son, Edouardo who supported
an elitist receptiveness, decided to construct
a popular hotel capable of accommodating
200 skiers at a daily rate of 10 lire. Bonadé
was entrusted with the work of clearing away
the snow from the zone and work began at
the end of March.
The Senatore waged a bet with Bonadé, offering
500 lire if the opening to the public
should take place by 7th December 1932.
And so it was that eight months later, the
Sestriere Tower was terminated and the first
clients welcomed for the festa of the ‘Immacolata’.
The engineer pocketed the money.
One year later in 1933,with the same amount
of time, the hotel Duchi d’Aosta was built.
For both of the buildings, Bonadé created a
futuristic, cylindrical type of shape specially
adapted to accommodate the form of a ships
cabin, and a connecting helicoidal ramp. But
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for his intuition, a special and unique Sestriere
rapidly appeared.(He built the church of Sant
Edouardo). The touristic development was
such that in 1934 by Regal Decree the Commune
of Sestriere was founded, today, Sestriere.
Having read this try to jump back in
your mind and reflect on the materials and
technology of the building industry which
were available in the 1930s. All this will seem
even more incredible and will help us to understand
the enormity of the work at 2000
metres of altitude, all created by the pencil of
Vittorio Bonadé Bottino.( Computers did not
yet exist).
Note: the photos have been offered by the
kindness of the Sportoletti family and by the
Gigio Ruspa Collection.
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3. La stazione di valle
della funivia Sises.
The lower station of
the Sises cable car.
4. L’inizio dei lavori
sul monte Sises per la
costruzione della
funivia. The
commencement of
the construction of the
cable car on Monte
Sises.
5. Ampliamento della
funivia Alpette-Sises.
Enlargement of the
Alpette-Sises cablecar.
Enlargement of the
Alpette-Sises cablecar.
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