1961 Fratelli Fabbri Pictorial View of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, France and Italy

This is a 1961 Fratelli Fabbri Editori pictorial view of the Mont Blanc Tunnel celebrating the possibilities (and engineering marvel) of an underground link connecting France and Italy. It was published two years into its construction the Mont Blanc Tunnel's construction and four years before it opened.

A Closer Look

With Chamonix, France, on the left and Entrèves, Italy, on the right, Monte Bianco (or Mont Blanc) dominates the sheet. The tunnel runs below the mountain near the bottom of the page and connects Chamonix and Entrèves. Numerous peaks of the Mont Blanc massif are identified, and their elevations provided, with Monte Bianco at center and rising 4,807 meters. A map in the upper right illustrates how, via the tunnel, the journey from Paris to Milan is shortened by 173 kilometers. An infographic in the lower left corner distances from Paris to two French towns on the Italian border (Tenda (Tende) and Monginevro (Mongenèvre)) and from Paris to Entrèves, soon to be the Italian terminus of the Mont Blanc Tunnel emphasizing the shorter distance and the time saved.

Publication History and Census

This view was created and published by Fratelli Fabbri Editori in 1961 in an edition of L'Educatore Italiano. We are aware of one cataloged example which is part of the collection at the Museo Nazionale della Montagna in Turin, Italy.