Exilles

Exilles sits in a narrow gorge of the Dora Riparia, in the upper Val di Susa, where the valley tightens before opening out at Oulx. It is the old Gallo-Roman Excingomagus: for ancient geographers, Strabo and Pliny the Elder among them, this was the point where Italy began for anyone coming from Gaul over the Alpine passes. The Monginevro branch of the Via Francigena ran through here. The municipal arms show a Guelph-battlemented castle that switches colour with the field, red on silver and silver on red.

The village is known above all for its fort. The site was already occupied in Celtic times, but a real fortified complex can only be confirmed from 1155, under the counts of Albon; fortress and village then changed hands between Savoy and the Dauphiné. Legend has the man later called the Iron Mask shut up here between 1681 and 1687. In September 1745 French troops tried to force their way down the valley and were driven back by the garrison guns under captain Papacino d'Antoni. Under Fascism the name was Italianised to Esille; the original form returned in 1953.