the Tenda Pass road, France-Italy

A Citroen autocar at the tunnel entrance.

The Col de Tende, as it is called in French, is at 1,871 metres altitude, and both the road and railway over/through the pass allow the connection of Tende to Cuneo (Coni in French) in the Alpes du Sud. The pass itself has been in French territory since 1947 because of the presence of the historic (and abandoned) Fort Central (1,908 metres) which guards the crest. The present border between France and Italy is situated lower, about 700 metres to the north of the pass, and follows for a time the road on this side. The road tunnel. an alternative to the road over the top, was built in 1882 at 1,270 metres altitude.

For those who want to appreciate the scenery, the summit road on the French side starts about 200 metres before the entrance to the tunnel and the paving disappears fairly quickly; it surmounts 46 zig-zags to the top, a distance of 7.5 km with 800 metres of elevation change (about a 11% gradient on average). On the north side, only the last 600 metres in French territory of a very narrow road is not paved. In Italian territory the road is paved and the route starts about 1.5 km before the tunnel. It has a smaller number of zig zags (one dozen), but are no less impressive.

Another post about the famous Tenda railway soon.