With the Italian-French diplomatic row over migrants still simmering, the Alpine neighbours have found something else to bicker about: who owns Mont Blanc – or Monte Bianco – Europe’s highest mountain? Since the Italian Republic was formed 150 years ago, France has claimed that three of the principal peaks on the Mont Blanc massif, Dôme du Goûter, Punta Helbronner and the tallest, Mont Blanc itself at 4,810m (15,781ft), are in its territory. This has always been disputed by Italian mountaineers, reports The Independent.
And the row has flared up once again with a proprietorial appearance by Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, at one of the disputed points last week to mark the opening of a new €138m (£97.8m) Italian cable car, with suggestions that French officials had snubbed the event.
According to Google Maps, the three peaks are entirely in French territory, with the French-Italian border curving south at the summit. Thus the very top would form part of the French town of Haute-Savoie of Saint Gervais Les Bains, and not the Italian resort of Courmayeur.
Other sources vary on where the border lies on the Mont Blanc massif between Italy and France. Some textbooks list Monte Bianco di Courmayeur, a summit not far from Mont Blanc, as Italy’s highest point, and French and Swiss maps also show this to be the border.
But others insist that the border crosses Mont Blanc itself. Locals in Courmayeur recently stepped up claims that the summit is shared by both nations and that, as a result, 400,000 square metres of Europe’s highest ground should be given back to them.
Upping the tensions, said La Stampa newspaper, were reports of a reverse offensive by the French. Italian mountain guides claim that at the nearby peak of Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo, French bulldozers have pushed the border stone 150m into Italian territory.