Exasperated by this unexpected resistance, Napoleon had the "vilain castel de Bard" razed to the ground. Fearing further French hostilities, Carlo Felice of Savoy decided to have the fort rebuilt, entrusting the project to the military engineer Francesco Antonio Olivero, an officer of the Royal Corps of Engineers. The works of reconstruction took from 1830 to 1838. The new fortification consisted of three buildings, positioned on different levels: the Opera Ferdinando on the lower level, the Opera Vittorio on the mid-level and the Opera Carlo Alberto above. Each part of the fortification became a separate, self-sustaining fort with its own casemates for the artillery, while providing reciprocal support to the other units in the case of enemy attack. The whole complex had 283 rooms and could accomodate up to 416 men (or double that number on straw-bedding); the stores could stock ammunition and food supplies sufficient for three months and the weaponry included 50 cannons. At the end of the 19th century, the fort began to decline; it was used as a penitentiary and later to store ammunition.

The reconstruction