little st bernard p.

The Petit St. Bernard Pass is a mountain pass located at an altitude of 2,188 meters on the French-Italian border, between the Rhône-Alpes region of France and the Aosta Valley of Italy, south of Mont Blanc. In ancient Roman times, there was a Temple of Jupiter and an inn that provided accommodation for travelers and provided them with fresh horses. Its foundations can still be easily seen on the Italian side. Some archaeologists believe that this was one of the routes used by Hannibal to cross the Alps to the Po Plain in 218 BC. The Tour de France has also passed through the Petit Saint Bernard Pass four times: in 1949, 1959, 1963 and 2009. The importance of this pass dates back to the Neolithic period. Although the highway department caused irreparable damage while building the road (N90/RN26), Root said the support work destroyed a central stone tomb. The tomb is designed in the shape of an ellipse, with its main axis perpendicular to the national road and about 72 meters long. Although its exact age cannot be confirmed, it has been traced back to the Iron Age. In 45 BC, the Romans built a Roman road from Milan to Vienna under the order of Caesar. This road was called the Gracia Alpe and was used until 1858, when it was replaced by the RN90. After the fall of the Roman Empire, in the early Middle Ages, the center of power shifted from Milan to Pavia and from Lyon to Vienna, and the Petit St. Bernard Pass was partially replaced by the Montseny Pass, a less steep and dangerous route. In the middle of the 11th century, Saint Bernard de Manton, the future patron saint of mountaineers, founded a hospice to protect pilgrims from robbers and the vagaries of the climate. The hospice was first built on the eastern slope, then destroyed and rebuilt by Archbishop Pierre II of Tarentaise in his own diocese, on the western side of the pass. Bernard envisioned his network as a free aid service open to all, as well as a relief center for the poor and sick, and a refuge for pilgrims, churchgoers, merchants, and soldiers. #Europe #EuropeTravel #EuropeTourism #Alps #FranceTravel #FranceTourism #ItalianTravel #ItalianTourism #Posthouse #AncientRome