ABSTRACT
The Mont Cenis Pass is an ancient doorway to the Alps, famous for having been used as the main passage for the descent of Constantine the Great to Italy in spring 312 as well as Charlemagne’s invasion in 773. Few know, however, that this harsh route connecting Savoy’s Maurienne Region to Piedmont’s Susa Valley became part of a festival path taking a princely couple to Lake Mont Cenis, just across the pass, where a naumachia was staged in 1619. The aim of this chapter is to give an account of this waterborne festival, set up to bring the past into the present while celebrating the marriage of Victor Amédée I of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont and Marie Christine de Bourbon, Princess of France, part way through their triumphant journey from Chambery to Turin.
