Detour #57: Great St Bernard Pass, Italy-Switzerland
It’s on the Great St Bernard Pass between Switzerland and Italy that the iconic opening scenes of The Italian Job were filmed.
It is a glorious road, sweeping through the Alps and even better to the accompaniment of a V12 on song, or Matt Munro’s On Days Like These. Take extra care in the tunnels, mind.
On the Italian side the road begins in Aosta, with the finish line in Switzerland at Martigny and is 50 miles of driving heaven, as classic car guru Simon Kidston will contest.
At the 2,500m peak you’ll find the Hospice du Grand-Saint-Bernard overlooking a most splendid lake that is frozen for two-thirds of the year. The hospice has, in one form or another, been providing food and shelter for travellers for more than a millennium. And it’s also where the famous St Bernard dogs were originally bred and trained to rescue those lost in the mountains.
You shouldn’t actually get lost if you stick to the road, but it is easy to lose yourself in the spectacular scenery of waterfalls, lush green pastures and epic, snow-capped mountains.
Being largely Swiss-maintained the road is well-surfaced, with guardrails on the gnarlier parts, but the Swiss are harsh on speeding so watch your velocity.
The Great St Bernard Pass is only open from June to the end of October for your own unforgettable Italian Job.
Words Nik Berg Twitter | Instagram
Photography Baptise Gousset / Mauro Paillex / Unsplash
