Sauze d'Oulx

Sauze d'Oulx is a town and comune in the province of Turin, Piedmont (northern italy) located 80 kilometres from Turin in the Val di Susa, at the foot of Monte Genevris (2,536 m).

It was the site of the Freestyle Skiing events of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Together with the villages of Pragelato, Sestriere, Claviere, Cesana Torinese, San Sicario and Montgenèvre, in France, it makes up the Via Lattea (Milky Way) skiing area.

Since the beginning of the 19th century, Sauze d'Oulx has been a destination for the Turin aristocracy, with its famous winter resort Sportinia and is still a skiing favourite because of its natural location.

History

Archaeological findings have proved the presence of Celtic settlements in the pre-Roman age. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, in the Middle Ages it was owned by the Novalesa Abbey and then by the prevosts of Oulx. From 1000, it was part of the Dauphiné and then of the Escartons Republic (until 1343); with the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) France gave it to the house of Savoy; in 1747 its territory was the seat of the Battle of Assietta between France and Savoy's Kingdom of Sardinia.

Oulx

Oulx (Ors in occitan) is a comune (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) west of Turin, in the Susa Valley on the border with France.

Names

Like many other towns in the Susa Valley, Oulx has different names reflecting the area's multiple linguistic traditions. One theory of the name's origin is that it derives from Ulkos, the name of a leader of the Celtic Salassi tribe. Another theory holds that the derivation is from Ultor, a title of the god Mars, to whom a temple in the area was dedicated. These names were first rendered as Ulces, and later Ulcium on maps in the Middle Ages, in Latin. From the older forms, the name became Olcs in the Occitan language and was later Francized as Oulx. As part of Italian Fascist Italianization, Oulx was renamed Ulzio from 1928 to 1947. However, this form is considered etymologically incorrect, deriving from the Latin "Ultium" rather than "Ulcium."

Today, the municipality is called Oulx in Italian and French, Ours in the local Cisalpine Occitan (a Vivaro-Alpine subdialect; using an alternate orthography),Ors [uɾs] in standard Occitan (using classical orthography), and Ols [ʊls] in Piedmontese as well as in the Cisalpine Occitan standard (using classical orthography).