Avigliana ( Piedmontese: ''Vijan-a'' ;

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

: ''Veillane'') is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) in the

Metropolitan City of Turin The Metropolitan City of Turin ( it, Città metropolitana di Torino, Piedmontese: ''Sità metropolitan-a 'd Turin'') is a metropolitan city in the Piedmont region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin. It replaced the Province of Turin and co ...

in the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region or

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, with 12,480 inhabitants as of January 1, 2017. It lies about west of

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

in the

Susa valley The Susa Valley ( it, Val di Susa; pms, Valsusa; french: Val de Suse; oc, Val d'Ors) is a valley in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont region of northern Italy, located between the Graian Alps in the north and the Cottian Alps in the sou ...

, on the highway going from Turin to Frejus, France. It is best known for two

maar lake A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

s, Lago Grande and Lago Piccolo. Also nearby is the massive

Sacra di San Michele The Sacra di San Michele, sometimes known as Saint Michael's Abbey, is a religious complex on Mount Pirchiriano, situated on the south side of the Val di Susa in the territory of the municipality of Sant'Ambrogio di Torino, in the Metropolitan Cit ...

History

In 574, the Lombard King Cleph built a castle here. According to some sources, the battle between the Franks of Pippin the Younger and the Lombards of

Aistulf Aistulf (also Ahistulf, Aistulfus, Haistulfus, Astolf etc.; it, Astolfo; died December 756) was the Duke of Friuli from 744, King of the Lombards from 749, and Duke of Spoleto from 751. His reign was characterized by ruthless and ambitious ef ...

occurred in the nearby in 750. Later Avigliana depended from the

Abbey of Novalesa Novalesa Abbey ( it, Abbazia di Novalesa) is a Benedictine monastery in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, Italy. It was founded in 726, and dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Andrew. Novalesa is in the Val di Susa, on the route to the Mo ...

, and subsequently it was a possession of the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...

. Avigliana was captured by Emperor Henry VI in 1187, but later it was acquired by Thomas I of Savoy. In 1536, in the course of the

Italian Wars The Italian Wars, also known as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts covering the period 1494 to 1559, fought mostly in the Italian peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and the Mediterranean Sea. The pr ...

, it was again stormed by French troops. French attacks repeated in 1630 and 1690, the latter ending with the destruction of the castle.

Main sights

* Ruins of the castle, destroyed in the seventeenth century by the French. * Church of ''San Giovanni'', with several works by Defendente Ferrari. * The Romanesque church of ''San Pietro''. * Natural Park of the Lakes of Avigliana.

Transportation

Avigliana has two gates on the A32 Bardonecchia-Turin motorway. It has also a station on the Turin- Modane railroad.

Twin towns

Tresserve Tresserve (; frp, Trèssarve) is a Communes of France, commune in the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in south-eastern France. It is part of the urban unit, urban area of Chambéry.< ...

, France * Oualia, Mali * Sevan, Armenia

References

External links

*
Official website
Castles in Italy Maars of Italy {{Turin-geo-stub