The Little St Bernard Pass (French: ''Col du Petit Saint-Bernard'', Italian: ''Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo'') is a mountain pass in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

on the France–Italy border. Its saddle is at 2188 metres above sea level. It is located between

Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, and

Aosta Valley , Valdostan or Valdotainian it, Valdostano (man) it, Valdostana (woman)french: Valdôtain (man)french: Valdôtaine (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = Official languages , population_blank1 = Italian French ...

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 ...

, to the south of the

Mont Blanc Massif The Mont Blanc massif (french: Massif du Mont-Blanc; it, Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major indepen ...

, exactly on the main alpine watershed. There is also a

Great St. Bernard Pass it, Colle del Gran San Bernardogerman: Grosser Sankt Bernhard , photo = Great St Bernard Pass.jpg , photo_caption = View of the pass and hospice from Great St Bernard Lake with Mont Vélan in background , elevation_m = 2469 , elevation_ref = ...

, famous for giving the St Bernard breed its name, and a

San Bernardino Pass San Bernardino Pass ( it, Passo del San Bernardino, german: Bernhardinpass, ) is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps connecting the Hinterrhein (river), Hinterrhein and the Mesolcina (Misox) valleys between Thusis (canton of Graubünden) and B ...

. The road across this pass (D1090 from

Bourg-Saint-Maurice Bourg-Saint-Maurice (; Arpitan: ''Bôrg-Sant-Mori'' or simply ''Le Bôrg''), popularly known as Bourg, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. Located on the Italian border south of Cham ...

via La Rosiere in France; SS26 from the

via La Thuile in Italy) is usually open from May to October. For current road status see ''Etat des principaux cols routiers francais''. At the summit, the road cuts through a stone circle measuring 72 m (236 ft) in diameter. A standing stone once stood in the middle. From coin finds this is believed to date from the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

, possibly being a ceremonial site of the Tarentaisian culture (c. 725 BC–450 BC). The stone circle was partly restored in the 19th century. In the Roman era, a temple dedicated to

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...

was erected nearby along with a mansio serving travellers along the pass, and it is thought that Carthaginian general Hannibal used this route.

Tour de France

The Little St Bernard Pass was first crossed by the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

in 1949 and has been featured three times since. In 2007, Montée d'Hauteville was climbed on stage 8 of the

. The pass was featured in the 2009 Tour de France Stage 16 on 21 July from Martigny (Switzerland) to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, 160 km, which also features the Great St Bernard Pass.

Route

From

to the south-west, the Col du Petit Saint-Bernard is 26.5 km long. Over this distance, the climb is 1,348 m (4,423 ft) (an average slope of 5.1%), with the steepest sections at 8.1% at the start of the climb. The first 15.5 km (9.6 mi) to La Rosière forms the Montée d'Hauteville climb. From

Pré-Saint-Didier Pré-Saint-Didier ( Valdôtain: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Aosta Valley region of north-western Italy, at above sea level. Transportation The terminus of the regional railway is located there, although with no services since 2015. Before ...

(in the

region of north-western

), the pass is 23.5 km (14.6 mi) long. Over this distance the climb is 1,184 m (3,885 ft) (an average slope of 5%).

External links

Profile of Little St. Bernard Pass on climbbybike.com

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Notes

{{Authority control Archaeological sites in France Little Landforms of Savoie Little Little France–Italy border crossings Transport in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Roman waystations

Tour de France

Route

See also

External links

Notes