La Thuile
Coal, the “Black Gold”
In 1926, the coal deposits of La Thuile were acquired by the Ansaldo Cogne Company, which in 1929 became the Società Anonima Nazionale Cogne. Under its direction, the mining complex expanded substantially, marking the transition from a small local enterprise to a major industrial operation.
A vast network of extraction tunnels, arranged on multiple levels, enabled the removal of large quantities of anthracite. The material was transported to the surface by narrow-gauge mine trains, crushed on site, and conveyed over greater distances by modern aerial cableways. The washing plant, forge, lamp house, and compressor hall operated at full capacity, each managed by miners specialised in distinct phases of production.
What had once been a modest craft-based activity evolved into a vertically integrated industrial system. The process began with coal extraction in La Thuile, continued with transport by mine train to Arpy, and then by cableway to Morgex, where the material was processed. From there, it travelled by rail to Aosta to supply the Cogne steelworks — the iron and steel complex associated with the Ansaldo company of Genoa.
By the late 1930s, the Villaret miners’ village was largely completed and officially inaugurated in November 1938. In addition to the technical facilities required for mining, Cogne constructed housing for workers, an infirmary, and administrative offices. The settlement of La Thuile expanded into the Ruitor valley, transforming areas that had previously been open pastureland; before this period, urban development had extended only as far as Bathieu, near the Château des Châtelard.
During the Second World War, the mining complex grew further with the temporary construction of a prisoner-of-war camp near the main Villaret tunnel entrance. Surrounded by barbed wire and guarded day and night, the camp contained dormitories, a refectory, prison cells, and a small infirmary. After its closure, the buildings were repurposed to accommodate the families of miners who, during those years, arrived in La Thuile in increasing numbers from across Italy.
The Barracks of Pera Carà
The First World War
During the First World War, records indicate that more than fifty prisoners of war were employed in the mining operations at La Thuile. In 1918, thirty-one of them were recorded as receiving wages equal to just under one-third of those paid to regular workers — approximately 2.40 lire per day. By the end of the conflict, around one hundred prisoners were working in the anthracite mines, under military supervision and housed in special barracks in the Villaret area.
Little else is known about their living conditions: neither the exact location of the lodgings nor the layout of the structures has been conclusively identified. Nevertheless, archival sources confirm the presence of prisoners and their contribution to mining activity during both World Wars.
P.G. Camp No. 101 “Porta Littoria” – The Second World War
The group of buildings erected in the Villaret area between 1941 and 1942 was constructed when Cogne — “due to exceptional circumstances” — undertook the creation of barracks to accommodate prisoners of war, militarised workers, and the soldiers assigned to guard them while they were employed in the mines.
The construction plans date from November 1941, and a building permit application was submitted by the Cogne Company to the Municipality of La Thuile on 28 May 1942. The document describes the complex as consisting of temporary, single-storey wooden structures with 2 cm-thick “Eraclit or Populit” walls, plastered and roofed with Marseille tiles on a timber frame.
Within the fenced perimeter stood dormitories, a refectory, prison cells, and a small infirmary, accompanied by separate buildings for the guardhouse, offices, and accommodation for officers and soldiers.
Military archives identify this complex as Prisoner of War Camp No. 101, Porta Littoria. Although the exact opening date is unknown, records from 1 March 1942 report 250 prisoners — mostly former Yugoslavs: 131 Serbs, 113 Montenegrins, and 6 annexed Italians. Their numbers remained relatively stable in the following months.
Camp No. 101 functioned as a forced-labour facility supporting the mining operations. It was closed on 8 August 1942 “following the cessation of prisoner labour at the Cogne Company mines.”
The Miners’ Village
After the camp’s closure and the demilitarisation of the area between 1943 and 1944, the barracks took on new life. No longer a place of confinement, they became homes for miners’ families who lived within the modest wooden structures until the 1960s.
Families arrived from Veneto, Brescia, Bergamo, Piedmont, Calabria, and Sardinia. They kept warm with coal and wood for the kitchen stove, while electricity was intermittent. The first proper bathroom — with a bathtub, washbasin, toilet, and boiler — was not installed until 1955.
Around twenty families of miners and maintenance workers formed a small community, complete with essential services such as a grocery shop and a primary school for first- and second-year pupils. The former prison camp thus became a humble yet vibrant part of La Thuile — a settlement that reflected the postwar influx of workers from across Italy, filling every available living space.
The Holiday House “Padre Kolbe”
Following the closure of the mines in 1966, the miners’ village gradually emptied, though a few families continued to live in the now-dilapidated barracks.
In the late 1960s, a group of Franciscan friars from Pesaro, led by Father Corrado, recognised the site’s potential as a place of rest and recreation for parish families. They began a gradual programme of renovation: clay-tiled roofs were replaced with metal coverings, central heating was installed, and a stable electricity supply was introduced.
Each summer, around one hundred people spent two-week holidays at what became known as the Casa per Ferie Padre Kolbe (“Padre Kolbe Holiday House”). The refectory and administrative offices were located in the nearby building that had once housed the management of Ansaldo Cogne.
The holiday initiative continued until the late 1990s, marking yet another chapter in the evolving history of Pera Carà — a place that, over the course of the 20th century, witnessed war, labour, resilience, and community renewal.