Col de Tende

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.

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 a 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.

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Tende

Tende (in Italian, Occitan and Royasc: Tenda) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.

Geography

Tende is located within Mercantour National Park in the French Alps. The mountainous commune is bordered by Italy to the north, with the boundary determined by the watershed line between the two countries. This line of mountain tops contains more than 20 summits exceeding 2,000 meters (6,600 feet).

A large rectangle of land running east/west, Tende is split from north to south by the Roya river valley. The tributary Réfréi river joins the Roya within the limits of Tende.

The Col de Tende (Tende Pass), a strategic pass through the Alps to Piedmont, has been modernized to be a road and railway tunnel.

History

Known to be a populated place in 690, it is unclear when Tende first became an organized settlement. Prehistoric rock engravings have been found in the area, which are now on display in the Musée des Merveilles or in situ.

Tende is a medieval village of tumultuous history, having belonged successively to the Count of Ventimiglia in the tenth century, then the Counts of Provence and the Counts of Lascaris of Ventimiglia before being swapped several times between Italy and France. First to the Duchy of Savoy, then the First French Republic (later the Napoleonic Empire), then restored to the Savoyard Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont (which became in 1861 the Kingdom of Italy).