Great St. Bernard

In neighbouring Switzerland, the Simplon Pass into Italy and the Great St Bernard Tunnel were closed to traffic, while two cantons were badly affected.

They are descendants of Barry I, a St. Bernard credited with saving the lives of more than 40 people on the Great St. Bernard Pass in the early 19th century.

The 2,469-metre ascent of the Great St Bernard Pass has been deemed dangerous, and instead riders will pass through the tunnel.

At Great St. Bernard Pass, the high point of the Via Francigena, at 8,114 feet, I was fascinated by a priest of 40 years who still struggled with his faith.

Think of the opening in the original 1969 version of “The Italian Job,” in which a man drives a Lamborghini Miura along the Great St. Bernard Pass in the Alps that links Italy and Switzerland.