The Colle della Rho (in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

) or Col de la Roue (in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

) is a mountain col at , at the border between the

massif des Cerces The massif des Cerces is a region of the French Alps on the Franco-Italian border. On the French side it lies in the departements of Hautes-Alpes and Savoie. The massif consists of smaller mountain chains including Mont Thabor as well as those of ...

and the

Cottian Alps The Cottian Alps (; french: Alpes Cottiennes ; it, Alpi Cozie ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France (Hautes-Alpes and Savoie) and Italy (Piedmont). The Fréjus Road Tunnel and Fréjus Rai ...

Toponymy

The col was named in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''Collis Rotae'' (literally ''Col of the Wheel''), the same meaning of its present-day French name, ''Col de la Roue''. On the official Italian maps at the beginning of the 20th century was added a ''"h"'' to an old name of the col, ''Colle della Rô'', turning it in ''Colle della Rhô''. Later on, the circumflex accent was lost, ending up in ''Colle della Rho'', the present-day most common Italian name of the col. However, on some editions of the Italian official maps of IGM and on the technical map adopted by the

Regione The regions of Italy ( it, regioni d'Italia) are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, five of which have higher autonomy than the rest. U ...

Piemonte it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

''Carta Tecnica Regionale'' raster 1:10.000 (vers.3.0), Regione Piemonte, year 2007 the

circumflex accent The circumflex () is a diacritic in the Latin and Greek scripts that is also used in the written forms of many languages and in various romanization and transcription schemes. It received its English name from la, circumflexus "bent around"a ...

still appears.

History

The Colle della Rho, during

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

, was one of the most frequented connections between

Susa Valley The Susa Valley ( it, Val di Susa; pms, Valsusa; french: Val de Suse; oc, Val d'Ors) is a valley in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont region of northern Italy, located between the Graian Alps in the north and the Cottian Alps in the sou ...

and

Maurienne Maurienne ( frp, Môrièna) is one of the provinces of France, provinces of Savoy, corresponding to the arrondissement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in France. It is also the original name of the capital of the province, now Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. ...

; close to it some

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

coins have been found.
From the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

on, several battles and skirmish occurred on the pass, which was located at first on the border between

Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th centu ...

and

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

(up to the

Peace of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne of ...

, 1713) and later, from 1860 on, between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. The last fights near the col were connected to the

Italian invasion of France The Italian invasion of France (10–25 June 1940), also called the Battle of the Alps, was the first major Italian engagement of World War II and the last major engagement of the Battle of France. The Italian entry into the war widened its sc ...

(June 1940).

Geography

The pass is located on the border between

and

. It connects, from South to North,

Bardonecchia Bardonecchia (; french: Bardonèche or ; pms, Bardonecia ; oc, Bardonescha ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' located in the Metropolitan City of Turin, in the Piedmont region, in the western part of Susa Valley. It grew out of a small village ...

(Italy) to

Modane Modane (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in southeastern France. The commune is in the Maurienne Valley, and it also belongs to the Vanoise ...

(France). It consists in a wide saddle between the Gran Bagna (3,083 m, SW of the pass) and the Roc de Jany (2,657 m, East), a satellite summit of the

Punta Nera The Punta Nera is a mountain of Savoie (France) and of the Province of Turin (Italy). It lies in the Cottian Alps range. It has an elevation of 3,047 metres above sea level. Toponymy Its name (literally ''Black summit'') comes from the dark ...

(3,047 m).
The path over the mountain pass is not paved. It can be reached by

mountain bike A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...

Toponymy

History

Geography

References

See also