This article lists the principal mountain passes and tunnels in the Alps, and gives a history of transport across the Alps.
A spiral is a technique employed by railways to ascend steep hills.
Col de Tende 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.
The Ligurian Alps are a mountain range in northwestern Italy. A small part is located in France. They form the south-western extremity of the Alps, separated from the Apennines by the Colle di Cadibona. The Col de Tende and the Vermenagna valley separate them from the Maritime Alps. They form the border between Piedmont in the north and Liguria in the south.
The Fréjus Road Tunnel is a tunnel that connects France and Italy. It runs under Col du Fréjus in the Cottian Alps between Modane in France and Bardonecchia in Italy. It is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes between France and Italy being used for 80% of the commercial road traffic.
Mont Cenis is a massif in Savoie (France), which forms the limit between the Cottian and Graian Alps.
The Alps form a large mountain range dominating Central Europe, including parts of Italy, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Germany and Hungary.
Maurienne 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.
Limone Piemonte is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) south of Turin and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Cuneo, on the border with France. As of September 2017, it had a population of 1,476 and an area of 71.3 square kilometres (27.5 sq mi).
Tende is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France.
Val Ferret is the name shared by two valleys separated by the Col Ferret, a pass on the border between Italy and Switzerland. The valleys lie southeast of Mont Blanc Massif. The Swiss valley drains northeast towards Orsières and on into the Rhône basin; whereas the Italian valley drains southwest towards Courmayeur and on into the Po basin.
The Mont d'Ambin Base Tunnel, also known as the Mont Cenis Base Tunnel, is the largest engineering work of the Lyon–Turin rail link project. Once completed, it will facilitate the principal high-speed rail link between Italy and France, conveying both high-speed passenger trains and rail freight between the two countries. At 57.5 kilometres (35.7 mi), that tunnel will be the longest rail tunnel in the world, ahead of the 57.1 km (35.5 mi) Gotthard Base Tunnel. It represents one third of the estimated overall cost of the project and is the only part of the line where work has started.
The Vallée des Merveilles, also known in Italian as the Valle delle Meraviglie, is a part of the Mercantour National Park in southern France. It holds the largest quantity of open-air Bronze Age petroglyphs in Europe, after Val Camonica in Italy, and is given special note for the area's inclusion for the European Diploma of Protected Areas.
The France–Italy border is 515 km long. It runs from the Alps in the north, a region in which it passes over Mont Blanc, down to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Three national parks are located along the border: Vanoise National Park and Mercantour National Park on the French side and Gran Paradiso National Park on the Italian side.
The Col de la Traversette is a bridle pass with an altitude of 2,947 metres (9,669 ft) in the Cottian Alps. Located between Crissolo and Abriès, it lies on the border between Italy and France and separates the Monviso from the Monte Granero. The Blue Trail of the Via Alpina and the Giro di Viso cross the pass.
The Tenda line or Cuneo-Ventimiglia line, also called in Italian: Ferrovia delle Meraviglie, lit. 'Railway of Wonders', is a cross-border railway line in the Alpine regions of France and Italy, connecting the Maritime and Ligurian Alps. The line is 99.4 kilometres (61.8 mi) long, including an 8-kilometre (5.0 mi) tunnel under the Col de Tende mountain pass.
