Germain Sommeiller

This was the first of a series of major tunnels built in the late 19th century to connect northern and southern Europe through the Alps.

He then returned to Savoy as assistant to the Belgian engineer Henri Maus, who directed the construction of the Turin-Genoa railway.

He was recognised for outstanding technical skills, so when king Vittorio Emanuele II decided to build the Mont Cenis Tunnel between Bardonecchia and Modane in 1857, Sommeiller was appointed head of design and construction.

[2] He patented the pneumatic rock-drilling machine, used in the tunnelling works, based on the invention of Giovanni Battista Piatti.

Germain Sommeiller died in his native town of Saint-Jeoire on 11 July 1871, six months after the December 1870 completion of the tunnel.