All About the Saint Bernard Pass
23 June 2025
What is the Saint Bernard Pass? Or rather, the Great Saint Bernard Pass?
The Saint Bernard Pass (connecting Martigny in Switzerland to Aosta in Italy) was essential to the Via Francigena during the Middle Ages, but its history is far greater than when the Saint Bernard Hospice, which we stayed in, was founded in 1049. In fact, the history of the pass begins in (or even before) 57 BC, when Julius Caesar sent his men to gain control of the pass. However, the pass was controlled by the Romans (under Emperor Augustus). In 50 AD, still under the control of the Roman Empire, Emperor Claudius made the pass into a true road. The Romans also built a temple dedicated to Jupiter on the Italian side of the pass (this is important!).
Now, we have a leap in time… to the 10th Century. By this time, the Saint Bernard Pass was already quite busy. Pilgrims were expected to do a pilgrimage at least once in their lives, and pilgrimage was viewed as an entry to heaven; thus, they gave donations (to boost their chances of getting to heaven). These donations gave rise to pilgrim hospices, such as the Saint Bernard Hospice—the most infamous pilgrim accommodation along the Via Francigena.
The question remains: why is it called the Saint Bernard Pass? Well, the pass was extremely dangerous. For most months of the year, it was covered in snow, subject to extreme weather, and there was no hospice at the top (until 1049). Even when we did the pass, we trekked through snow… in June. As a result of this danger, came a story — or a myth (however you’d like to put it) that inside the temple of Jupiter lived a demon who ate every 10th traveler on the pass. Saint Bernard, apparently, was a tenth traveler, and he faced the demon, putting it in chains (not really chains but rather his stole, which symbolically turned into a chain). As such, Saint Bernard tamed the force of the pass by building a hospice (over ancient Roman ruins). The demon story represents the danger of the pass, and Saint Bernard created a respite at the peak.
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However! We are not done. The history goes on. In 1349, pilgrims on their way from Constantinople brought the Plague….
While the hospice, by 1349, served as a refuge for pilgrims, the danger of the pass remained. In 1496, the hospice built a morgue because there wasn’t enough soil up on the mountain to bury the dead.
The morgue still rests just beside the Hospice (and is now bricked up because someone thought it would be funny to hide in there and scare a man when he walked in, leaving the man stuttering for two days).
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In 1554, a massive fire destroyed much of the hospice, so it had to be rebuilt. We got to see beams dated 1554 during our stay there. Luckily for us, they have since done some renovations.
In 1574, despite the reformation bringing about widespread violence, the hospice continued to welcome pilgrims regardless of their denominations.
By the 1600s, canons at the hospice were performing surgeries, often for frostbite. Take that for some scientific history.
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On May 20th, 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte crossed this pass. Did he send his 40,000 men to go before him? Yes. And no, he did not do the physical work. He did not climb the mountains, plant his bare hands in snow, did not slosh through streams made of snow runoff just to step into massive piles of cow dung. No, he sat on a mule. And the mule brought him over the pass. However, he did apparently do some sliding down the pass on his way down.
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The pass has since remained essential. The hospital was turned into a hotel due to a rise in tourism at the start of the twentieth century. In the 1910s, the canons got skis, opening a world of adventure and fun for them (and serious business, of course). In both World Wars, soldiers were stationed at the pass (and at the hospice) to enforce border controls.
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Finally, you may be wondering, what about the dogs? I was, too. And yes, they are a massive deal. Monks began breeding Saint Bernards in the mid-1600s to guard and carry loads. However, in the midst of the pass, they became invaluable rescue dogs. The most famous of the dogs, Barry, helped save over 40 people in his life. The dogs still live at the pass, but because they are so big and heavy, they are not used in rescue missions nowadays because they are too large for helicopters… apparently. Thankfully, they still live up at the pass, and we got to say our hellos.