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Its earliest name was Mon Jovis, after the Roman temple, and between the 8th and 15th centuries it was regularly crossed by Rome-bound pilgrims, clerics and medieval emperors. But the pass was (and still is) prone to sudden storms and many travellers perished whilst attempting to cross, so in 1070 Bernard of Menthon, the archdeacon of Aosta, masterminded the construction of a hospice on the summit overlooking a small lake. This became a welcome haven for travellers, with the canons and lay brothers quartered there providing free shelter and food to all who requested it. These same custodians of the pass also rescued countless snowbound travellers, although the first mention of the famous St Bernard dogs was not made until 1708. (Today helicopters and sophisticated search equipment have more or less made the dogs redundant for rescue purposes, although a number have been retained by the hospice.)

During the late 18th century whole armies crossed the pass, the most famous being that of Napoleon who, between 14 and 20 May 1800 led 40,000 troops into Italy to defeat the Austrians at Marengo. Accounts of that crossing describe the future emperor’s descent as a form of glissade: ‘suffering himself, according to the custom of the country, to glide down upon the snow.’ But as a result of the difficulties encountered in manhandling heavy pieces of artillery up to and across the pass, within three months of his victory at Marengo, Napoleon ordered the road across the Simplon from Brig to Domodossola to be made passable for artillery, and this was completed five years later.