A military road to Col de Seigneurs
Col de Seigneurs (Colle del Lago dei Signori) is a high mountain pass at an elevation of 2.130m (6,988ft) above the sea level, located in the Valle Tanaro, Comune di Briga Alta, Upega in the Cuneo Province, Italy.
The track is dangerous for cars and must be traveled with extreme caution on any vehicle (best to avoid transit through common cars). The road is gravelled and it is somewhat bad around the pass height. The speed limit is 20km/h. The main road in the Col de Seigneurs is officially closed from November 1 to March 31 every year. The road traversing the pass was originally built with military function and was used during World War II.
The road is traversed by the Via del Sale. It's a Ligurian track built in the Middle Ages to transport salt from Ventimiglia to Limone Piemonte and from there to Turin. As a result, the road has been enlarged and many sections were magnified and transformed into military roads to connect the numerous forts located along the border between Italy and France. Today, it is a wonderful dirt road, which runs along the ridges of the Maritime Alps on the border between Italy to France, in a wild landscape and stunning views of the sea and the mountains.
At the eastern end of the Alpes-Maritimes, the original Massif du Marguareis separates the upper Roya Valley from the Italian Tanaro and Pesio valleys, protected by a natural park. The Col des Seigneurs faces the two slopes of the Marguareis (2,651 m), the culmination of the Ligurian Alps, and provides access to the most important Alpine karst system of the Piedmont, with over 150 km. of explored caves, reaching a depth of 1,000 m.
Pic: Matteo Quaglia