History leaves indelible imprint on Gotthard Pass

At first blush the Gotthard Pass may not seem like the most appealing place to visit.

Indeed, much of the year it is inhospitable, and the road traversing the 2,100-metre-high notch in the Swiss Alps is closed for the winter due to heavy snow.

Yet this often forbidding place, which Switzerland’s President Doris Leuthard is visiting on Sunday to celebrate the country’s national holiday, is suffused with a history of national importance.

And for summer visitors there is much too see apart from the surrounding mountain scenery, although the trails from the Passo del San Gottardo, as it is known in Italian, also provide hikers with a pleasant day’s divertissement.

“The attraction is you can go hiking,” Monika Mathis, co-manager of the Ospizio San Gottardo, said tersely when asked why people come to stay in the hotel.

It is the renovated hospice attached to the hotel that Leuthard is officially opening in an August 1 ceremony.

Although much changed, the building dates back to medieval times when it provided shelter for wayfarers travelling through the pass on a route that connected Switzerland with Italy.

The pass, named after a Bavarian saint, is located in Ticino, the Italian-speaking canton, just over the border for German-speaking Uri.

The hospice recently underwent a 5.2-million-franc renovation to accommodate 14 guests as a three-star hotel and recently became the third monument in Switzerland to receive “European cultural heritage” designation.

“It was originally a refuge house, especially for poor people,” Carlo Peterposten, director of the National St. Gotthard Museum, told Swisster.

Those without means walked through the pass “and they had the right for food and shelter without paying,” said Peterposten.

The museum he directs is among the other attractions of the pass, chronicling the centuries-long struggle to keep the trade route through it open.

The hospice played an important role, going back to the 13th century, when it was tended by Capuchin monks under the sponsorship of the Archbishop of Milan, Peterposten said.

The original hospice was replaced by another building in 1623, which was rebuilt following a devastating avalanche in the 18th century.

It was expanded following a fire in 1905 and the most recent renovations were directed by the Basel architect firm Miller & Maranta.

The monks ran the hospice until 1841, when the canton of Ticino took it over until 1883 when the railway arrived, Peterposten.

“Everything changed with the railway,” he said.

A tunnel was built, which is still in use, reducing the importance of the pass for trading and travel.

Nonetheless, it continued to serve as a route for those travelling on foot and by stage coach and later by motor vehicle.

The Lombardini family took over the hospice and four generations ran until 1972, Peterposten said.

A road tunnel opened in September 1980 further reducing traffic through the pass.

However, Peterposten said congestion through the tunnel, which only handles single-lane traffic in each direction, has boosted the number of motor vehicles travelling through the pass.

“We now have the same traffic as before the tunnel opened,” Paterposter said.    

However, the road through the pass is only usable from early May to November when it is closed for the winter.

Gotthard’s museum, hotel, hospice and restaurant also shutter their doors for the snowy season.

In the mid-19th century, the Swiss postal service used stage coaches to carry passengers and the mail through the pass into Italy.

They used sleds to make the trip even in winter, Peterposten said.

Visitors today can make the same trip in a replica coach, drawn by a five-horse team driven by costumed attendants.

The Historische Reisepost travels from the Andermatt train station through the Gotthard Pass, where its stops at the hospice for lunch and a visit to the museum before continuing on to  Airolo (Ticino).

The five-hour trip costs 680 francs per person, two aperitifs, a snack and a meal included.

The coach accommodates up to eight passengers with a 10 percent price reduction for groups of eight.

Despite the steep tariff more than 1,000 people take the stage coach annually between mid-June and mid-September, Peterposten said.

Other attractions of historical interest include a fort museum, which is run by the national St. Gotthard museum.

In addition to being an important trade route, the pass served as an important point of military defence.

The gun emplacements from the first world war can still be seen.

As part of her visit on Sunday, Leuthard plans to tour both museums, Peterposten said.