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The journey was planned originally by Hannibal's brother-in-law Hasdrubal.

He became a Carthaginian general in Iberia in 229 BC, a post he would maintain for some eight years until 221 BC.

Soon the Romans became aware of an alliance between Carthage and the Celts of the Po River valley in Northern Italy.

The latter were amassing forces to invade farther south in Italy, presumably with Carthaginian backing.

Thus, the Romans preemptively invaded the Po region in 225 BC.

By 220 BC, the Romans had annexed the area as Gallia Cisalpina.

Hasdrubal was assassinated around the same time ( 221 BC ), bringing Hannibal to the fore.

It seems that, having apparently dealt with the threat of a Gaulo-Carthaginian invasion ( and perhaps they knew that the original Carthaginian commander had been killed ), the Romans lulled themselves into a false sense of security.

Thus, Hannibal took the Romans by surprise a scant two years later in 218 BC by merely reviving and adapting the original Gaulish-Carthaginian invasion plan of his brother-in-law.