Remove ads
Col de Tende (Italian: Colle di Tenda; elevation 1870 m) is a high mountain pass in the Alps, close to the border between France and Italy, although the highest section of the pass is wholly within France.
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (November 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
| Col de Tende | |
|---|---|
 Switchbacks on the pass road | |
| Elevation | 1,870 m (6,135 ft) |
| Traversed by | road |
| Location | Alpes-Maritimes / Province of Cuneo |
| Range | Maritime Alps, Ligurian Alps |
| Coordinates | 44°8′57″N 7°33′43″E |
  Col de Tende Location of Col de Tende | |
It separates the Maritime Alps from the Ligurian Alps. It connects Nice and Tende in Alpes-Maritimes with Cuneo in Piedmont.
A railway tunnel inaugurated in 1898 and the Col de Tende Road Tunnel inaugurated in 1882 run under the pass. The latter tunnel is 3.2 kilometre long and is among the oldest long road tunnels.
French historian François Guizot states that the road was first developed by Phoenicians and later maintained by Greeks and Romans.[1]
But, at the end of three or four centuries, these colonies fell into decay; the trade of the Phoenicians was withdrawn from Gaul, and the only important sign it preserved of their residence was a road which, starting from the eastern Pyrenees, skirted the Gallic portion of the Mediterranean, crossed the Alps by the pass of Tenda, and so united Spain, Gaul, and Italy. After the withdrawal of the Phoenicians this road was kept up and repaired, at first by the Greeks of Marseilles, and subsequently by the Romans.
Remove ads
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
Remove ads