One of the busiest travel routes in medieval times crossed this mountain pass, previously known as the Calanca Pass; the current place name came into use in the late 1700s, when the pass became the point of contact for the territories of the Papal States, the House of Este and the Grand Dukes of Tuscany. The mountain pass is identified by a large sandstone boundary stone, on which one can still make out the inscriptions regarding the year it was laid and the 18th Century borders.