Italy has reinstated internal Schengen border controls on the roads linking Piedmont with France from 00:01 on Friday 24 July until 23:59 on Sunday 26 July 2026. The exceptional measure was notified to the European Commission under Articles 25 et seq. of the Schengen Borders Code and appears in the Commission’s public register of re-introductions. The focus is the Susa Valley, where the tenth “Festival dell’Alta Felicità” and parallel No-TAV protest events are drawing thousands of supporters, including foreign activists. Intelligence reports warned of the arrival of radical groups intent on attacking the Turin–Lyon high-speed-rail construction sites. To guarantee public order, police checkpoints have been set up on the A32 motorway, the SS 24 and SS 25 state roads and on cross-border regional trains. Travellers must therefore carry passports or national ID cards and be prepared for random searches. Business implications include longer door-to-door transit times for commercial traffic between Turin, Chambéry and Lyon, and possible delays for corporate shuttles moving staff between the two countries. Logistics operators should factor in extra buffer time and consider alternative crossings such as the Fréjus rail tunnel or the Ventimiglia–Menton corridor, which remain subject to normal Schengen rules. The Interior Ministry stresses that controls are targeted and proportionate and will be lifted once the security risk subsides. Companies that regularly post employees across the border are advised to circulate internal travel alerts and remind assignees to keep identity documents on their person at all times.
