Driving along the SS24, the Fort looms from a distance with its imposing structure built on the rocks on the right bank of the Dora river.

Already fortified emplacement in 1155 to defend the Monginevro road, for a long time it was disputed between the Catholic and Reformed factions both aspiring to control the Dauphiné.

Razed to the ground by Napoleon, but not conquered in battle, it was rebuilt by the King of Sardinia between 1818 an 1829.
After 8th September 1943, the decadence begins: deserted by the troops, it was devastated by vandals and thieves without any maintenance work.
After a careful renovation it was returned to the admiration of the public in 2000, thanks to close collaboration between the Piedmont Region and the Museo Nazionale della Montagna Cai-Torino.
The Fort houses also a route enriched by theatrical sets of great evocative impact with stone soldiers, sculptures, imagines and sounds that give to visitors the idea of the life of the alpine soldier.
n oddity: the legend tells that the famous and never identified “Man in the Iron Mask” lived in its dungeons from 1681 to 1687.
The Fort and its museum areas were opened to the public on 8 July 2000.

For more info:
www.fortediexilles.it
wikipedia: Forte di Exilles