Anyone coming into Italy from the north has to cross the Alps. Many passes were used by local traffic but, particularly in the west, where the mountains are higher, long-distance travellers such as pilgrims preferred those where river valleys cut deep into the mountains so that only the main ridge had to be crossed. The main valleys on the west/north side are the Durance, Isère, Rhone, Rhine and Inn; on the south, where the mountains fall steeply to the Po basin, the Ticino and Adige. In the east, the various tributaries of the Drau and Mur cut deep into the mountains but are largely E-W so N-S travellers have several ranges to cross. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal_passes_of_the_Alps for more info.
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