Italy denounces French ‘invasion’ of its own piece of Mont Blanc

AN ICY chill has descended over relations between Italy and France over who owns Mont Blanc – or, to the Italians, Monte Bianco.

The diplomatic spat stems from an ordinance issued by the French authorities which is designed to protect western Europe’s highest mountain from environmental damage.

That includes limiting the number of paragliders allowed to swoop from its wind-blasted peaks and ridges, as well as blocking ill-equipped hikers who sometimes set off in jeans and trainers.

But to the fury of some Italians, the ordinance included not just the French side of the border but also a chunk of Italian territory.

Luigi Di Maio, Italy’s foreign minister, wrote a formal letter of complaint to the Macron government on Wednesday, expressing “strong disappointment” over the supposed land grab. “Such unilateral measures which cannot and must not impact Italian territory ... are not recognised by Italy,” he said.

Right-wing parties in Italy denounced the French move as an attempt to “unilaterally annex” a hallowed part of Italian soil, with MPS raising the issue in parliament.

Giorgia Meloni, the leader of Brothers of Italy, a hard-Right party, denounced what she called “the unacceptable French invasion of Mont Blanc”. “France continues to violate our borders with impunity. We’ll do everything possible to defend Italy’s borders,” she said. Italian sovereignty should be jealously guarded, said MPS from the League, the Right-wing party.

“The unilateral annexation by France of a highly symbolic piece of Italy is an affront,” MPS said in a statement.

Standing at 15,781ft (4,810m), Mont Blanc straddles the border between the two countries, with the French town of Chamonix on one side and the Italian resort of Courmayeur on the other.

The decree about environmental protection, which includes safeguards for plants and wildlife, was issued earlier this month. It pertains to large tracts of the French side of the border but also strays into Italian territory – a glacier known in Italian as the Ghiacciaio del Gigante and in French as the Glacier du Géant, as well as a mountain refuge, the Rifugio Torino.

Eric Fournier, the mayor of Chamonix, told The Daily Telegraph the French ordinance “very clearly” applied only to the French side and only for a few days.

Jean-marc Peillex, the mayor of SaintGervais-les-bains, told The Telegraph: “When there’s an accident, the emergency services from both Italy and France intervene. No one worries about whether they may have crossed the border because the important thing is to save lives.”