Italy
Stelvio Pass
Forty-eight hairpin bends climbing to 2,757 metres, the highest paved pass in the Eastern Alps.
The road switchbacks forty-eight times, each hairpin tighter than the last, the valley floor shrinking below until it disappears entirely. At 2,757 metres, the air is thin, the wind is constant, and the view stretches into Switzerland on one side and the Ortler glacier on the other. Stelvio Pass in Italy is not a drive — it is a dare.
The Stelvio Pass is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps and the second highest in all of the Alps, connecting Bormio in Lombardy with Merano in Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. The road was built between 1820 and 1825 under Austrian rule by engineer Carlo Donegani and comprises 48 numbered hairpin bends on the Bormio side alone. It has been a fixture of the Giro d'Italia since 1953, with the Cima Coppi designation awarded to its summit stage in multiple editions. The Stelvio National Park, one of Italy's oldest, surrounds the pass and is home to ibex, golden eagles, and one of the last glaciers in the Eastern Alps. The pass is open only from late May to November, with snow walls lining the road well into June.
Friends
Rent a car, a motorcycle, or a road bike — the Stelvio is the kind of challenge that turns into a story. The hairpins demand full attention, and the summit beer tastes better than any you have earned.
Solo
Cycling the Stelvio is a bucket-list ascent for road cyclists worldwide. The 24.3 kilometres from Bormio climb 1,533 metres of elevation — and the descent demands every bit as much nerve.
- The 48 hairpin bends of the eastern approach have made this an annual stage of the Giro d'Italia — considered the greatest cycling climb in the Alps.
- At the 2,757-metre summit, a ring of old Austrian military fortifications from WWI are accessible on foot — the border trenches are still visible.
- The road typically opens in late May and closes in November — in shoulder season the bends are empty and the descent on the Bormio side uninterrupted.
- The western descent drops 2,400 metres to Bormio in 20km of continuous hairpin bends — a road trip that exists nowhere else in the Eastern Alps.
Bresaola della Valtellina, air-dried beef sliced thin and dressed with lemon, rocket, and Parmigiano.
Pizzoccheri, buckwheat pasta with cabbage, potatoes, and melted Bitto cheese from the valley below.
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