On Friday, 16 July 1965, the Mont Blanc Tunnel was officially inaugurated by French President Charles de Gaulle and Italian President Giuseppe Saragat.
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| President Charles de Gaulle and President Giuseppe Saragat in a Lancia Flaminia Presidenziale during the inauguration |
A violent mountain storm sent vengeful bolts of lightning slashing across the slopes of Mont Blanc, while thunderclaps reverberated through the valleys below. The helicopter carrying Charles de Gaulle struggled through the dense fog as it made its way over the mountain pass towards Chamonix, while a persistent drizzle added a chill to the air. Despite the adverse weather conditions, De Gaulle and Saragat ceremoniously cut two symbolic ribbons, officially opening what was then the world's longest road tunnel, stretching 11.611 kilometres beneath Western Europe's highest mountain. The two presidents then climbed into Saragat's Fiat 2300 limousine and drove through the tunnel, travelling from France to the Italian town of Courmayeur. After thousands of years of wishful thinking, eight decades of frustrated planning and six years of relentless toil, one of Europe's greatest natural barriers had finally been conquered.
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| President Charles de Gaulle and President Giuseppe Saragat during the inauguration |
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| Saragat and De Gaulle ceremoniously cut two symbolic ribbons |
The agreement between France and Italy to construct a tunnel beneath Mont Blanc was signed in 1949. Two operating companies were subsequently established, each responsible for the construction and management of one half of the tunnel: the French company Autoroutes et tunnel du Mont-Blanc (ATMB), founded on 30 April 1958, and its Italian counterpart, Società italiana per azioni per il Traforo del Monte Bianco (SITMB), founded on 1 September 1957.
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| On 14 August 1962, the French and Italian teams met |
Excavation work proceeded simultaneously from both sides of the mountain massif. The Italians were the first to begin work, on 12 January 1959, followed by the French on the first of June the same year. The construction of the tunnel came at a heavy human cost. Twenty-three workers lost their lives during the project: eighteen Italians and five Frenchmen. On 14 August 1962, after years of painstaking excavation, the two teams finally broke through and met deep beneath Mont Blanc, marking the completion of the tunnel's excavation.
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| The tunnel was opened to traffic on 19 July 1965 |
Owing to numerous technical difficulties and a strike lasting several weeks, the tunnel was opened later than originally planned. Its inauguration had initially been scheduled for early 1964. The tunnel was opened to traffic on 19 July 1965. The two-lane tunnel, equipped with air-conditioning and an ultramodern radar-based traffic control system, shortened the road distance between Paris and Rome by 201 kilometers.
British Pathé News Clip
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