The first modernisation works of the Delfinale Exilles castle date back to the forties of the 16th century. Conquered by Carlo Emanuele I in 1593 who returned it to French hands in 1595, during the war for the Marquisate of Saluzzo. Between 1607 and 1609 the projects of Jean de Beins definitively transformed the castle into a "modern" fortress. Further works designed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban in 1700 were not completed.
In 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession, after a brief siege, the fortress returned into the hands of the Savoy permanently. During the eighteenth century, after a first event that envisaged the demolition of the complex, it underwent radical expansion and strengthening interventions, designed by the main engineers of the Kingdom of Sardegna, Ludovico Luigi of Willencourt, Ignazio Bertola, and Pinto di Barri, well overcoming the siege attempts of 1744 and 1794.
The Peace of Paris, May 15th, 1796, which ended the war of the Alps, dictated the suppression of the fortress, demolished using mines.
The current fort was rebuilt from 1818, designed by Giovanni Antonio Rana, which Francesco Antonio Olivero took over in 1824. The fortress has been in operation since 1829 but the fortress was finally completed in the late thirties. Additional defence works were carried out after 1875.
The fort was abandoned in 1945. It was completely restored between 1978 and 2000 and is open to public visits.
