The Simplon Pass, Napoleon, Coaches and the Postauto
8 July 2025
The Romans, Säumer, and Napoleon made use of it: the Simplon Pass. Mountain passes, trade, diplomacy, and war have positioned Switzerland, a vital traffic artery of Europe, at the centre of commercial and strategic interests for centuries.
The Mountain Passes
Another warlord, Hannibal, crossed the Swiss Alps with his army and elephants in 218 BC, on the other side of the Alps, to defeat his Roman enemy on their territory. Despite several victories, he ultimately failed, but his journey remains legendary.
Roman and Greek historians, however, disagree on which pass he took to cross the Alps. The Col de Montgenèvre, the Mont-Cenis, the Little or the Great St. Bernard are often mentioned as the most likely options. We will probably never know for sure. What is certain is that Emperor Claudius (10 BC-54 AD) crossed the Great St. Bernard with his legions in 43 AD on his way to Britannia, which he indeed conquered that year.
Napoleon
Another warlord, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), is also known to have used the Swiss mountain passes for his military plans. After the conquest of the old Confederation of thirteen cantons in 1798 and the founding of the Helvetic Republic (1798-1803), he ordered the construction of a road over the Simplon Pass in 1800, “Pour faire passer les canons” (To pass the cannons), as stated on an inscription in the Gandertal.
Säumer around 1890. Photo: Ecomuseum Simplon-Dorf
Image: Schifffahrtmuseum Basel
Säumer in Simplon-Dorf, reenactment. Photo: Ecomuseum Simplon-Dorf
The road had to be broad and sturdy enough to transport his cannons and one hundred thousand men, their horses, and equipment. It was the shortest route between Paris, Lombardy, and Milan, which had long been in the possession of his Austrian enemy. On October 9, 1805, the road from Brig to Domodossola (63 km) was opened, a remarkable achievement and a technical feat at the time.
From 1802-1810, Wallis was an ‘independent’ republic under Napoleon’s supervision. From 1810 to 1813, the Simplon department was part of the French Empire. Centuries earlier, the pass was used by traders (known as Säumer), pilgrims, diplomats, and other individuals, and from the seventeenth century, by diligence or stagecoaches. Kaspar Jodok von Stockalper (1609-1691), ‘the king of the Simplon’, as the French Sun King Louis XIV (1638-1715) called him, reorganised trade between Milan and France and created the first stagecoach connection over the Simplon.
Stockalper Hospiz
Augustijner Hospiz
The hospice of Stockalper from the seventeenth century and the hospice of the Augustinians (built on Napoleon’s orders) from the nineteenth century remind us of the glory days of this pass, which, due to its relatively low height (2005 meters), was sometimes even passable in winter and increasingly so today.
Napoleon did not enjoy it for long (militarily). Tourists, Simplon Village, and (local) transport, until the construction of the Gotthard Tunnel in 1882 and the railway tunnel in 1906, enjoyed it much more.
The Stagecoach and the Postauto
At its peak, between 1850 and 1906, the stagecoach connection between Brig and Domodossola transported hundreds of thousands of passengers in diligences and Landauer coupés; in 1876 alone, 28,190 passengers were transported. There were at least four diligences in both directions daily, and more than 150 horses were used daily.
Images: Ecomuseum Simplon-Dorf
These numbers do not even include transport on foot, by sleigh, or by private means. This enormous increase also came because the newly founded Confederation nationalised the stagecoach in 1848. After the end of the stagecoach era in 1906 with the construction of the railway tunnel, the famous yellow Postauto emerged. The first postauto crossed the Simplon Pass as early as 1919.
Images: Ecomuseum Simplon-Dorf
A smaller version of the Postauto in 2022: Photo: TES
In 1905, the first cars used the pass. By 1960, usage had increased so much that Napoleon’s old road was modernised entirely, unfortunately without leaving anything of his masterpiece.
Today, the symbol of the pass is a giant eagle. It resembles Italian or German architecture of the 1940s, but it was erected by the 11th Swiss Border Brigade in 1944. Whether it deterred the German or Italian dictators in 1940-1945 is unlikely.
It is a fact, however, that they did not try to use the pass for their aggression. The Simplon Pass was part of the formidable defensive line and Alpine fortress Reduit, and every pass was a fortress of granite, stone, and rock during this period.
The pass leads via the border town of Gondo to Domodossola in Italy and from there to the Canton of Ticino. Along the way, there are still some surprises to be found on Italian territory, such as the enormous basilica in the village of Re and the stunning mountain landscape.
Source and further information: Ecomuseum Simplon-Dorf
The basilica is a pilgrimage church with the beautiful name Basilica della Beata Vergine Maria del Sangue di Re. It resembles, to a certain extent, St. Peter in Rome, Oudenbosch (province of Brabant) in the Netherlands, and even somewhat the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
