across Mont Cenis
This was the easiest route into Italy, across southeastern France from
Chambery to Turin in northwestern Italy. The Mont Cenis Pass rises to only 6825
feet. This was Napoleon's invasion
route to Italy in 1796, and
thereafter the post-road was improved to allow uninterrupted traffic
between the two countries. It was this road, indeed, that the Shelleys
themselves would take shiortly after publication of the novel, in March 1818, on their trip to Italy.
