Fortresses
Forte di Exilles
Category: Fortresses
The Exilles Fort, one of the oldest monuments in the Susa Valley, is a rare example of a “street castle”, a defensive structure with several walled circuits in defense of an internal core and an external barrier. Exilles guaranteed the strategic control of the ground axis that went from Piedmont to France through Monginevro. At the beginning of the 17th century, the forte was modified from its earlier structure into one fortified with ramparts. During the years 1681 to 1697, it is said the mysterious person known to history as the “Man in the Iron Mask” lived among these walls. In the first years of the 1700’s, the fortress of Exilles underwent major reconstruction and modernization, including the overhaul of the defensive front facing France. Razed by the French after the Treaty of Paris in 1796, the Fort was rebuilt to its present structure between 1818 and 1829 by the King of Sardinia, who had taken back his lands.
With a restructured interior, the Exilles Fort has become a “museum in itself” and houses part of the military collection from Turin’s Museum of the Mountain such as the military uniforms from the alpine troops, plus sketches, maps, and images which narrate the history of the Fort and of military architecture from the Western Alps.
Information
10050 Exilles (To)
Tel/Fax: +39.0122.58270
E-mail: posta@museomontagna.org
www.cmavs.it
