Nice

Nice lies between the Mediterranean and the steep valleys of the southern Alps. Its harbour and fortress made it a valuable outlet to the sea for the rulers of Savoy, to whom the town submitted in 1388. The old town clustered beneath the castle hill, where walls guarded the coast and the roads into the mountains. In 1543 French and Ottoman forces besieged Nice. They took the lower town, but the fortress held out until the attackers withdrew in September. The siege exposed the city's place in the rivalry of the great powers. Nice remained linked to Savoy until French revolutionary troops occupied it in 1792.