Placed at the centre of this intriguing story is the medieval town of Pinerolo, which lies among the Italian Alps not far from Turin (Piedmont).

The walled town was occupied on and off by the French for over a hundred years between the 14th and the 17th centuries.

It was during this time that the legend of ‘The Man with the Iron Mask’ was born.

On August 24, 1669 – under the rule of King Louis XIV - a French prisoner was brought to Pinerolo and detained in the Fenestrelle Fortress (Fortress of Pignerol) for around 12 years.

This was no ordinary prisoner, however.

The nameless man’s face was permanently hidden from the public by a piece of black velvet cloth (not iron, as often assumed), and his true identity was never revealed – not even to the guards who supervised him for the duration of his imprisonment.

One question has remained unsolved for centuries, and still cannot be answered today.

Why was the prisoner’s face never exposed?

Several theories have made the rounds over the years, and endless possibilities have been portrayed in the worlds of film and literature, with the first published account of the legend in Voltaire’s 1751 work The Century of Louis the Fourteenth.

In his 1847 novel The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexandre Dumas proposed that the prisoner was the twin brother of King Louis XIV, who had been imprisoned by his parents since birth to avoid complications with succession of the throne (only one would be able to become King, and as the first born, Louis XIV was the chosen twin).

This theory highlights that for the prisoner’s face to be covered, he must have obviously been easily recognisable as a man of high status within the society – or must have looked similar enough to the King that questions would have been raised surrounding their connection.

Another suggestion is that the man was the illegitimate older half-brother of the King, born to Louis’ mother, Anna of Austria and her lover Cardinal Mazarin.

Further ideas have floated around proposing that the prisoner was a political or intellectual figure and a nemesis of King Louis XIV, but no one concrete answer has ever been confirmed.

As this mystery continues to intrigue locals and visitors alike, the town of Pinerolo comes together for an annual celebration of the famous prisoner on the first weekend of October.

In an elaborate display, the community relives the events of ‘The Man with the Iron Mask’, dressing in medieval attire and participating in parades, as music and games fill the streets.

As prisoners are escorted through the town in a re-enactment of history, the event comes to an end with the revelation of ‘The Man with the Iron Mask’ in Piazza Vittorio Veneto before thousands of spectators.

Each year, the mysterious prisoner is played by a different person, and half the fun is trying to guess who it could possibly be.

Though the famous faceless man’s identity was never discovered – not even after his death in the Bastille on November 19, 1703 - the legend lives on through the town of Pinerolo in this yearly festivity that is well worth travelling off the beaten track for.