Brigue and Tende

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Brigue and Tende (brēg, täNd), Ital. Briga and Tenda, two small districts, Alpes-Maritimes dept., SE France, on the French-Italian border. The districts are on the "Route Royal," opened in 1780, which links Nice with Turin. With several smaller frontier areas in the Mont Cenis and Mont Blanc regions, they were ceded to France by Italy in 1947 as a reparation for World War II. Brigue and Tende are largely French-speaking. Before 1947 the strategic Col de Tende, a pass now situated on the border, was entirely within Italy.