colle della Maddalena
High mountain pass between the Cottian Alps and the Maritime Alps,
located on the border between Italy and France.
The Col de l'Argentière was in the possession of the house of Savoy from 1388 to 1713,
offering an easy route between Piedmont and its outlying valley of Barcelonnette,
it was of such strategic and commercial importance.
Hannibal reputedly led his Carthaginian army over the pass toward Rome in 218 BC, and the army of King Francis I of France used the pass to enter Italy and conquer Milan in 1515.