Avise

Avise stands on a rocky ledge overlooking the Pierre-Taillée gorge, at the entrance to the Valdigne. Its strategic position meant that for centuries it was a bulwark in defense of commercial traffic towards the Alpine pass of the Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo, since Roman times to protect the Via delle Gallie, a Roman consular road built by Augustus to connect the Plain Padana with Gaul. The stories of Horace-Bénédict de Saussure collected in Voyage dans les Alpes indicate that the passage of Pierre-Taillée was defended by two drawbridges, a guardhouse and a door.

Still, during the Middle Ages, the strategic position of Avise allowed the prosperity of the noble family of the Avise, one of the few who could afford not to submit to the House of Savoy and to be able to build three castles at a distance of a few hundred meters l one from the other. On the Castle of Avise, in particular, the motto of "Qui tost Avise, tart se repent" is a warning to passers-by.