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Little St Bernard Pass

Archaeological sites in FranceFrance–Italy border crossingsLandforms of SavoieMountain passes of Aosta ValleyMountain passes of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Mountain passes of the AlpsRoman waystationsTransport in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Col du Petit Saint Bernard cromlech
Col du Petit Saint Bernard cromlech

The Little St Bernard Pass (French: Col du Petit Saint-Bernard, Italian: Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo) is a mountain pass in the Alps on the France–Italy border. Its saddle is at 2188 metres above sea level. It is located between Savoie, France, and Aosta Valley, Italy, to the south of the Mont Blanc Massif, exactly on the main alpine watershed. There is also a Great St. Bernard Pass, famous for giving the St Bernard breed its name, and a San Bernardino Pass. The road across this pass (D1090 from Bourg-Saint-Maurice via La Rosiere in France; SS26 from the Aosta Valley 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, 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 was erected nearby along with a mansio serving travellers along the pass, and it is thought that Carthaginian general Hannibal used this route.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Little St Bernard Pass (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Little St Bernard Pass
D 1090, Albertville

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 45.680277777778 ° E 6.8838888888889 °
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Address

Cromlech du Petit-Saint-Bernard

D 1090
73700 Albertville
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
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Col du Petit Saint Bernard cromlech
Col du Petit Saint Bernard cromlech
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Fort de la Redoute Ruinée
Fort de la Redoute Ruinée

The Fort de la Redoute Ruinée (literally "fort of the ruined redoubt") was a French fort overlooking the Col de la Traversette near La Rosière in the Alps between 1892 and 1945. It was built out of the ruins of the Fort de la Traversette, constructed in 1630 by Savoy. In 1792, during the French Revolutionary Wars, the Savoyards garrisoned the old fort with fifty men. Nonetheless, it fell to the French army in 1794 and was renamed Fort Libre ("fort free"). The fort became permanently French with the exchange of territory that accompanied the Treaty of Turin in 1860. Between 1892 and 1894, the French constructed new works on the old. In 1897 the fort was unveiled by President Félix Faure and named in honour of the old fort. It was incorporated into the sub-sector of Tarentaise of the fortified sector of Savoy, part of the Alpine Line extension of the Maginot Line in the 1930s. It did not see action until the Italian invasion of France in June 1940. Garrisoned with seventy men plus machine guns commanded by Sous-lieutenant Henry Desserteaux, it withstood the Italian besiegers for four days before the Franco-Italian armistice. On 3 July, eight days after the armistice, the surrendered garrison marched out with the honours of war. In the winter of 1944–45, the fort was used by the Italians and Germans. A garrison of forty-six soldiers defended it against French attacks during the second Battle of the Alps. It was retaken by France on 29 April 1945.After it returned to French control, it was renamed Baraquement Capitaine Desserteaux (Capitain Desserteaux Barracks).

La Rosière, Savoie
La Rosière, Savoie

La Rosière (French pronunciation: [la ʁozjɛʁ]) is a ski resort in southeastern France. It is located in the territory of the commune of Montvalezan, in the Savoie department, at 1,850 m (6,070 ft) above sea level and 2,800 m (9,200 ft) top height, and faces south with fine views across the valley to nearby Les Arcs. It was developed in the early 1950s on the site of an old hamlet, and was linked with the nearby Italian resort of La Thuile in 1984 via two fairly long drag lifts through the Little St Bernard Pass. Compared to its neighbour, Val d'Isère, La Rosière is relatively small, with 154 km (96 mi) of piste. The ski area of l'Espace San Bernardo (which includes La Thuile) caters for all abilities: as of early 2008, it provides 8 green and 25 blue slopes for beginners, and 35 red and 14 black runs for the more advanced skiers. A notable feature on the higher pistes is the Redoute Ruinée, a border fort built by France in the early 1890s after the loss of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany in 1870, as part of a general strengthening of the borders. It was heavily reinforced between 1936 and 1940 as part of the Alpine Line, in anticipation of invasion from Italy. In June 1940, during the Battle of France at the start of World War II, a small force of 47 men resisted several attacks from Italy, before being allowed to leave with the flag after the Armistice with Germany. The fort suffered heavy damage when French forces attempted to retake it towards the end of the war. It is now ruined, and public access to the interior is prohibited for safety reasons. Hannibal is thought to have marched his elephants through this area on his passage through the Alps. French actor Gaspard Ulliel was critically injured during a skiing incident at the resort on 18 January 2022, and died from his injuries in hospital the following day.