| France–Italy border | |
|---|---|
 Mont Blanc, here seen from France, is the highest mountain inWestern Europe, located on the France–Italy border. | |
| Characteristics | |
| Entities |  France Italy |
| Length | 515 km (320 mi) |
TheFrance–Italy border is 515 km (320 mi) long. It runs from theAlps in the north, a region in which it passes overMont Blanc, down to theMediterranean coast in the south. Three national parks are located along the border:Vanoise National Park andMercantour National Park on the French side andGran Paradiso National Park on the Italian side.
The France–Italy border is mainly mountainous. It is 515 kilometres (320 mi) long,[1] in southeast France and northwest Italy. It begins at the westtripoint of France–Italy–Switzerland (45°55′23″N07°02′40″E / 45.92306°N 7.04444°E /45.92306; 7.04444) near the top ofMont Dolent (3,820 m), in the French commune ofChamonix (department ofHaute-Savoie), the Italian city ofCourmayeur (Aosta Valley) and the Swiss commune ofOrsières (canton ofValais).
The boundary then follows a general direction towards south, to theMediterranean, it reaches the sea atMenton in France andVentimiglia in Italy. The border separates threeregions (Aosta Valley,Piedmont andLiguria) and fourprovinces of Italy (Aosta,Turin,Cuneo andImperia) from tworegions (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes andProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur) and fivedepartments of France (Haute-Savoie,Savoie,Hautes-Alpes,Alpes-de-Haute-Provence andAlpes-Maritimes).
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The paved road crossings between the two countries from north to south are:
In 1999, there was alarge fire in theMont Blanc Tunnel after a truck crashed into other vehicles. Emergency personnel from both sides of the border tried their best to intervene but 39 people died. The tunnel was closed for nearly three years following the fire.[2]
The following railway lines and services cross the border (from north to south):
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The border between the two countries dates back to that separating theKingdom of Sardinia and France during the 19th century. In 1860, theTreaty of Turin links theSavoy andCounty of Nice to France; the border between the French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia was surveyed the following year.
At the conclusion of theBattle of France inWorld War II, Italyclaimed and administered French territory under the terms of thearmistice of 24 June 1940 (the Franco-Italian armistice signed at the Incisa villa near Rome) which were extended from 11 November 1942. TheGermans occupied the Italian zone from 1943, and the territory was finally liberated by France in 1944. The border was then changed by theTreaty of Paris in 1947, when France acquiredTende,La Brigue,Mont Chaberton and the Lake ofMont Cenis.
In the 21st century, an ongoing issue to be resolved concerns the demarcation of the border at the top ofMont Blanc.[3]