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

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

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 o ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and

Aosta Valley The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, to the south of the Mont Blanc Massif, exactly on the main alpine watershed. There is also a

Great St. Bernard Pass The Great St Bernard Pass (, , ; ) is the third highest road pass in Switzerland, at an elevation of . It connects Martigny in the canton of Valais in Switzerland with Aosta in the region Aosta Valley in Italy. It is the lowest pass lying on t ...

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

San Bernardino Pass San Bernardino Pass (, , ) is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps connecting the Hinterrhein and the Mesolcina (Misox) valleys between Thusis ( canton of Graubünden) and Bellinzona ( canton of Ticino). Located in the far eastern side ...

. 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 south-eastern France. Located on the Italian border south of Cha ...

via La Rosiere in France; SS26 from the

via

La Thuile LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smi ...

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 A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

measuring 72 m (236 ft) in diameter. A

standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

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 historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

, 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 List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

was erected nearby along with a

mansio In the Roman Empire, a ''mansio'' (from the Latin word ''mansus,'' the perfect passive participle of ''manere'' "to remain" or "to stay") was an official stopping place on a Roman road, or ''via'', maintained by the central government for the use ...

serving travellers along the pass, and it is thought that Carthaginian general

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

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 cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

and has been featured three times since. In

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, 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 Montée d'Hauteville (1639 m.) is a mountain climb that was used in the 2007 Tour de France. The race caravan covered the first 15.3 km of the climb from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to the Little St Bernard Pass on the N. 90 border route to Courmaye ...

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 line from Aosta is located in Pré-Saint-Didier, although wi ...

(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%).

Gallery

file:LittleStBernardHospiceAug132023.jpg, Little St Bernard Hospice file:StatueSaintBernardMenthonAug132023.jpg, Statue of Saint Bernard of Menthon near the pass file:LacSansFondAug132023 01.jpg, Lac Sans Fond on the French side above the hill file:Lac Verney en août 2019.JPG,

Verney Lake __NOTOC__ Verney Lake (French: Lac du Verney) is a lake at Aosta Valley, Italy. At an elevation of 2088 m, its surface area is 0.203 km² The square kilometre (square kilometer in American spelling; symbol: km2) is a multiple of the sq ...

on the Italian side, near the road

Notes

External links

Profile of Little St. Bernard Pass on climbbybike.com

* {{Authority control Archaeological sites in France

Little Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

Landforms of Savoie

France–Italy border crossings Transport in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Roman waystations

Tour de France

Route

Gallery

See also

Notes

External links