It is the main defensive structure, which faces the Mallemort castle on the right bank of the Roya. Of medieval origin, the site was modernised in the late seventeenth c. and in the eighteenth c. before being dismantled in the nineteenth c.
The first inhabitants of the place, refugees on this rocky nipple, defend themselves by rolling the stones, which is worth to the Saorgians the nickname of Rubata Baoussi, those who make the stones roll.
A deed passed to Genoa in 1157 mentions the castrum Saurcium.
In 1258, the Counts of Ventimiglia sold their fiefs from the Roya to the Count of Provence. The Vintimille de Tende did not recognize the surrender and seized the castle, but were quickly driven out by the Provençals. Locked from the road to the Col de Tende, the castle was taken by the French of the Chevalier de La Fare in 1692 and reinforced by Vauban. In 1794, by a manoeuvre of bypass, General Bonaparte takes the city and seizes the castle that Masséna destroyed. When Mussolini claimed the French Roya and Nice, the mayor of Saorge, Botton, raised the tricolour flag there so that Italian travellers passing through the valley knew they were in France.
A deed passed to Genoa in 1157 mentions the castrum Saurcium.
In 1258, the Counts of Ventimiglia sold their fiefs from the Roya to the Count of Provence. The Vintimille de Tende did not recognize the surrender and seized the castle, but were quickly driven out by the Provençals. Locked from the road to the Col de Tende, the castle was taken by the French of the Chevalier de La Fare in 1692 and reinforced by Vauban. In 1794, by a manoeuvre of bypass, General Bonaparte takes the city and seizes the castle that Masséna destroyed. When Mussolini claimed the French Roya and Nice, the mayor of Saorge, Botton, raised the tricolour flag there so that Italian travellers passing through the valley knew they were in France.
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