Chantar l'Uvèrn – Events in Exilles

Chantar l'Uvèrn, the winter that sings the Occitan valleys

Chantar l'Uvèrn – which in the Occitan language means «singing the winter» – is one of the most deep-rooted cultural festivals in the Turin alpine arc. It was born in 2006 with the «Occitan lenga olimpica» project, in the wake of the Turin Winter Olympics, and since then it has accompanied the cold months every year with a program spread across the Susa Valley, Chisone Valley, Sangone Valley, and Germanasca Valley. The common thread is the promotion of the three historical minority languages of these border territories: Occitan, Franco-Provençal, and French.

A festival spread across thirty municipalities

Now in its 17th edition, the event involves over thirty municipalities in the alpine valleys, along with natural parks and ecomuseums, with more than seventy appointments: folk concerts, theatrical performances, anthropological conferences, book presentations, films, language courses, and workshops. It is promoted by the Management Body of the Protected Areas of the Cottian Alps together with the Chambra d'Oc association, the Documentation Center of Oral Memory of Giaglione, and with the support of the Metropolitan City of Turin and the Piedmont Region. The historical subtitle, «From Candlemas to May 1st», well describes the long breath of a festival that accompanies the entire winter until spring.

The Exilles appointment

Exilles, a municipality in the upper Susa Valley in the Province of Turin, is one of the symbolic villages of the festival: here one of the concluding events of Chantar l'Uvèrn is held, in the Polivalente (former barracks) of Piazza Europa. The evening is dedicated to the presentation of Cahier no. 34 of the Colombano Romean Ecomuseum, titled «Vauban at the Fort of Exilles», edited by Eugenio Garoglio and Massimo Garavelli. A meeting that retraces, with rich iconography and partly unpublished documents from the French military archives of Vincennes, the projects that the famous military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban imagined for the Sun King's bastion in the Dauphiné, before the Treaty of Utrecht.

The Fort and the history of the border

The Fort of Exilles is one of the most imposing fortifications of the western alpine arc and has dominated the Dora Riparia Valley for centuries: a place that tells the story of a land long contested between France and the Duchy of Savoy. Including the finale of the festival here means intertwining the linguistic memory of the valleys with the architectural and military one, in a dialogue between Occitan culture, frontier history, and fortified heritage.

Why it's worth it

• An authentic journey into Occitan and Franco-Provençal culture, far from mass tourism circuits.
• The opportunity to discover a unique linguistic heritage in Italy, protected as a minority language.
• An evening of high-level historical dissemination dedicated to the Fort of Exilles and the work of Vauban.
• An appointment included in a broader program that touches all the alpine valleys of the Turin area.

The Exilles appointments are an integral part of the most authentic alpine Piedmont: an invitation to experience winter and spring not only on the slopes, but also within the ancient culture of its valleys.