Tensions in the Alps

For over thirty years, the majority of residents in northern Italy's Susa Valley have mounted one of Europe's longest-running grassroots resistance movements, opposing the construction of the Lyon-Turin high-speed rail line (TAV). Beyond the political battles and militarised security fences, the infrastructure project is quietly reshaping the landscape and uprooting the lives of those who call the valley home.

At the centre of this struggle are individual human stories: 86-year-old Ines faces the expropriation and imminent demolition of the Bussoleno home she has lived in for over five decades. Meanwhile, 42-year-old Luca has dedicated years to reclaiming abandoned alpine vineyards to establish his agricultural business, only to find his daily work enclosed directly within the high-security perimeter of the construction site.

Through personal testimonies and intimate visual documentation, this work examines the human and environmental cost of mega-infrastructure, recording a community caught between rooted local identity and state-driven development.

The videos below are excerpts from a longer documentary produced and broadcast by ARTE TV, airing from March 2025 to March 2026.