, photo = Col du Mont Cenis.jpg , photo_caption = Lake at the pass , elevation_m = 2085 , elevation_ref = , traversed =

Route nationale 6 The Route nationale 6 is a trunk road ( nationale) in France between Paris and the frontier with Italy in the Alps. Reclassification The RN 6 runs parallel for a long portion of its route to the A 6 autoroute. As a result, portions of the roa ...

, map = Alps , map_caption = Location of Col de Mont Cenis , map_size = , label = Col de Mont Cenis , coords = , location =

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 ...

, range =

Graian Alps , it, Alpi Graie , photo = , photo_caption = , country_type = Countries , country = , subdivision1_type = Provinces/Regions , subdivision1 = , parent = Alps , borders_on = ...

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 Ra ...

, topo = Mont Cenis ( it, Moncenisio) is a

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

(el. 3,612 m / 11,850 ft at Pointe de Ronce) and a

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places * Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits * Mountain pass, a lower place in a moun ...

(el. 2,085 m / 6,840 ft) in

(

), which forms the limit between the Cottian and

Graian Alps , it, Alpi Graie , photo = , photo_caption = , country_type = Countries , country = , subdivision1_type = Provinces/Regions , subdivision1 = , parent = Alps , borders_on = ...

Route

The term "Mont Cenis" could derive from ''mont des cendres'' ("mountain of ashes"). According to tradition, following a forest fire, a great quantity of ashes accumulated on the ground, thus the name. The path of ashes was found during the building work of the route. The pass connects

Val-Cenis Val-Cenis is a commune in the department of Savoie, southeastern France. The municipality was established on 1 January 2017 by merger of the former communes of Termignon (the seat), Bramans, Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis, Lanslevillard and Sollières- ...

in France in the northwest with Susa in

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 ...

in the southeast. Thence the valley of the

Dora Riparia The Dora Riparia (; pms, Dòira Rivaira; french: Doire Ripaire or ''Doire''; la, Duria minor) is an alpine river, a left-hand tributary of the Po. It is long (of which 5 km in France), with a drainage basin. It originates in the Cottian ...

is followed to

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

(103.8 km / 64.5 mi from Modane). The carriage road mounts the Arc valley for 25.7 km / 16 mi from Modane to

Lanslebourg Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis is a former commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Val-Cenis.Susa (49.9 km / 37 mi from Modane) where the road joins the railway. To the southwest of the Mont Cenis is the Little Mont Cenis (2184.2 m / 7166 ft) which leads from the summit plateau (in Italy) of the main pass to the Etache valley on the French slope and so to

Bramans Bramans is a former commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Val-Cenis.Fréjus Rail Tunnel The Fréjus Rail Tunnel (also called Mont Cenis Tunnel) is a rail tunnel of length in the European Alps, carrying the Turin–Modane railway through Mont Cenis to an end-on connection with the Culoz–Modane railway and linking Bardonecchia i ...

. This (highest point 1295 m / 4249 ft) is really 27.4 km 17 miles southwest of the pass, below the Col du Fréjus. From

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chamb ...

the line runs up the Isère valley, but soon bears through that of the Arc or the

Maurienne Maurienne ( frp, Môrièna) is one of the 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. Location The Mau ...

past Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to

Modane Modane (; ) is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. The commune is in the Maurienne Valley, and it also belongs to the Vanoise National Park. It was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia unti ...

(98.2 km / 61 mi from Chambéry). The tunnel is 13 km in length, and leads to

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 ...

, some way below which, at

Oulx Oulx ( oc, label= Occitan, Ors) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about west of Turin, in the Susa Valley on the border with France. Names Like many other towns in the Susa V ...

the line joins the road from the

Col de Montgenèvre The Col de Montgenèvre (; elevation 1860 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Cottian Alps, in France 2 kilometres away from Italy. Description The pass takes its name from the village Montgenèvre (Hautes-Alpes), which lies in the vicinity ...

History

In the Middle Ages, pilgrims passing through Moncenisio and Susa Valley came to

along a road called the

Via Francigena The Via Francigena () is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from the cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. It w ...

, with a final destination of Rome. In 1414,

Niccolò III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara Niccolò III d'Este (9 November 1383 – 26 December 1441) was Marquess of Ferrara from 1393 until his death. He was also a condottiero. Biography Born in Ferrara, the son of Alberto d'Este and Isotta Albaresani, he inherited the rule of t ...

travelled on this route returning from Paris having met Charles VI, and described the Col du Mont Cenis as having "a good ascent and bad descent". This pass was crossed in 1689 by the Vaudois, and is believed by some authors to have been the pass used by Hannibal to cross the Alps. As an Alpine pass, Mont Cenis featured in several historical incidents. One example is the descent of

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

to Italy, to fight against Maxentius. It was the site of a military victory by the French

Army of the Alps The Army of the Alps (''Armée des Alpes'') was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It existed from 1792–1797 and from July to August 1799, and the name was also used on and off until 1939 for France's army on its border with Italy. 1792� ...

, led by General-in-Chief Alex Dumas over

Piedmontese Piedmontese (; autonym: or , in it, piemontese) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, northwestern region of Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly reg ...

forces in April 1794, a victory that enabled the French Army of Italy to invade and conquer the Italian peninsula. It was the principal route for crossing the Alps between France and Italy until the 19th century. It was also used as the main passage by which

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...

crossed with his army to invade Lombardy in 773, and later by Napoleon I. Mont Cenis was one of the most used Alpine passes from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. The pass was part of the border between the two countries from the annexation of Savoy to the Second French Empire in 1861 until the 1947

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

, but is now located completely in France. The treaty allowed Savoy to retrieve its historical and political boundaries. It has historically been part of

. A road over the pass was built between 1802 and 1805 by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

to improve military connections. By 1810, it was the most travelled road between France and Italy, as Strasbourg was closed to

silk trade The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and rel ...

traffic from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, leading to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

becoming a major trade centre instead. The Mont Cenis Pass Railway was opened alongside the road in 1868, but was dismantled in 1871, on the opening of the

Fréjus Rail Tunnel The Fréjus Rail Tunnel (also called Mont Cenis Tunnel) is a rail tunnel of length in the European Alps, carrying the Turin–Modane railway through Mont Cenis to an end-on connection with the Culoz–Modane railway and linking Bardonecchia i ...

. It was the first ever railway based on the

Fell mountain railway system The Fell system was the first third-rail system for railways that were too steep to be worked by adhesion on the two running rails alone. It uses a raised centre rail between the two running rails to provide extra traction and braking, or brakin ...

and was worked by English engine-drivers. The Fréjus Rail Tunnel acquired the alternative, and geographically incorrect, name of Mont Cenis Tunnel because the traffic which formerly used the Mont Cenis Pass was transferred to it. Forte Varisello 002

When the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

-Piedmont ceded Savoy to France, in 1860, the Mont Cenis became a frontier pass, and consequently a part of Savoy was left on the Italian side. It was therefore highly fortified as a protection against an invasion of the Val di Susa route towards Turin. In 1874-1880 the Italian

Regio Esercito The Royal Italian Army ( it, Regio Esercito, , Royal Army) was the land force of the Kingdom of Italy, established with the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. During the 19th century Italy started to unify into one country, and in 1861 Manfr ...

built three stone forts: Fort Cassa, Fort Varisello and Fort Roncia, supported by several batteries and fortifications, such as those at top of Mont Malamot. Two further armored batteries, La Court and Paradiso, were added in the early 20th century, while the Fascist government built here part of its underground

Alpine Wall The Alpine Wall (''Vallo Alpino'') was an Italian system of fortifications along the of Italy's northern frontier. Built in the years leading up to World War II at the direction of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, the defensive line faced Franc ...

. All these fortifications are now in French territory after the boundaries revision in 1947 allowing Savoy to get its historical territory back. The Lac Du Mont Cenis is an artificial dam that was constructed in 1921 on top of the original road and border crossing. It feeds two hydroelectric power plants. The lake is occasionally drained for maintenance.

Cycling

The pass of Mont Cenis has been featured 5 times in 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 ...

. It has been classified ''hors-catégorie'' (yielding the highest number of points in the King-of-the-Mountains classification) since 1999. For the 5 years that the pass was on the Tour, the following cyclists have crossed the pass in the lead:Le dico du Tour - Le col du Mont-Cenis dans le Tour de France depuis 1947
* 1949 -

Giuseppe Tacca Giuseppe Tacca (12 August 1917 – 18 October 1984) was an Italian-French professional road bicycle racer. He rode in the 1947, 1948 and 1949 Tour de France. Italian by birth, he was naturalized French the 02 July 1948. Major results ;1 ...

, France * 1956 -

Federico Bahamontes Federico Martín Bahamontes, born Alejandro Martín Bahamontes (; born 9 July 1928), is a Spanish former professional road racing cyclist. He won the 1959 Tour de France and a total of 11 Grand Tour stages between 1954-1965. He won a total of ...

, Spain * 1961 - Emmanuel Busto, France * 1992 -

Claudio Chiappucci Claudio Chiappucci (born 28 February 1963 in Uboldo, Varese, Lombardy) is a retired Italian professional cyclist. He was on the podium three times in the Tour de France general classification: second in 1990, third in 1991 and second again in 199 ...

, Italy * 1999 -

Dimitri Konyshev Dimitri Konyshev (Russian Дмитрий Борисович Конышев; born 18 February 1966 in Gorky) is a Russian former road bicycle racer. During the 1989 World Championship he can be seen in a rather famous photo of cycling history s ...

, Russia In the

2013 Giro d'Italia The 2013 Giro d'Italia was the 96th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started in Naples and finished in Brescia. Vincenzo Nibali of team Astana won the general classification. Teams As a UCI World Tour race, t ...

, the pass was featured in the 15th stage on May 19, 2013.

Climate

Mont Cenis has a subarctic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Dfc''). Due to the elevation of the top of the mountain at , the temperature here is significantly lower than that of the plains. Even the warmest months of July and August, the temperature rarely rises above , and often falls below minus in severe winter. Around the world, there are also Zoige and Litang areas with similar climatic characteristics here. The average annual temperature in Mont Cenis is . The average annual rainfall is with May as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in February, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Mont Cenis was on 26 June 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 4 February 2012.

Points of interest

Jardin botanique de Mont Cenis The Jardin botanique de Mont Cenis is an alpine botanical garden located on Mont Cenis above the town of Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis, Savoie, Rhône-Alpes, France. The garden was created in 1976 at an altitude of about 2000 meters above sea level, and ...

, an alpine

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

Notes

References

External links

*
Profile on climbbybike.com

Both Sides: Cycling Map, Profile, and Photos

Montcenis

* Chemin de Fer du Mont-Cenis * Lac du Mont-Cenis * Col du Petit Mont-Cenis
Mont Cenis on Google Maps (Tour de France classic climbs)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cenis, Mont Mountain passes of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mountain passes of the Alps Mountains of Savoie France–Italy border crossings