ETR // Stage 42 // Livigno - Bolzano

46°32'19.2"N 10°08'09.0"E
46.538654, 10.135836
Livigno - Bolzano
VR EXPO - 60 Stages
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Distance

Livigno - Bolzano
Radius 100 km
188 km

Highlights

Livigno Tax-Free Town
Stelvio National Park
Passo dello Stelvio
Stelvio Bike Day
Umbrail Pass
Bormio

Big breakfast in Livigno, long lunch in Bormio

Before you leave the hotel, you should check if Stelvio Pass is open today, as sudden snowfall can change your plans at a moment's notice. You might get there and the pass is closed. You might also be lucky to find that they have cleared the recent snow away, and the pass has just been opened to the public again!

Be sure to tank up well with a good breakfast and a couple of strong coffees before setting out from Livigno this morning, because you'll need all the concentration you can gather on this next stretch of road!

Wind slowly up out of the valley

As you roll out of Livigno, having filled your petron tank the night before, you start feel all the cares of the world slowly fading into the distance. And you need to empty your mind completely and get into some Zen-like state to have room take in what this next stage will throw at you - cars, turns, switchbacks, motorcycles, hairpins, bicycles, cows, trucks, Ferraris, people, campervans, cameras, Famils, Families, busses, RV's, mountain goats, overheated tourists, and more overheated motorcycles and ecstatic riders.

Passo dello Stelvio

Built for riding, the Stelvio Pass in Italy is the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps (2757m) and the second highest in the Alps. With 48 hairpin turns on the northern side, and 12 on the southern side, this wild ride takes you through fantastic stretches of Alpine scenery, and many beautiful kilometers of fast and sweeping roads, before arriving at the foot of the pass. Once you're on the pass itself, each of the turns are numbered with stones, so can count your way to the top... 31...32....33.... Just keep one eye on the road, eh?

Continue along the SS38, and weave your way up into the mountains... at the top of this great road is Bormio, where you can rest and replenish your energy, get some lunch and another coffee ot two before a breathtaking descent along yet another fantastic stage of Alpine spaghetti, hairpins and switchbacks.

Fast-flying Famils

On the way back down the other side (whichever direction that is) watch out for multicoloured slim, fat and spandex-covered bicycle riders with no hair on their legs overtaking you at speed on the way down the other side - they have little regard for their own safety, their outfits are visually repulsive and revolting, they look like they escaped from the 1980's, you can't hear them coming, and suddenly they're 50 meters ahead of you, racing like the clappers as if The Devil himself was chasing them down the side of the mountain. And maybe he is! Apart from the rampant Ferraris and loose-wandering livestock, free-range Famils (Fat Men in Lycra Shorts) are definitely the most hazardous feature of this stage.

Burning Brake Pads

It's a good idea to take your descent from Bormio in second or third gear, so as not to contribute to the overall stench of burning brake pads hanging in the air here. We are all guilty of it from time to time - finding yourself at the bottom of a great mountain run with the steam rising off your brake blocks and the hissing of the raindrops as they land on them, turning into steam as soon as they hit them.

Engineering a masterpiece

The original road was built in 1820–25 by the Austrian Empire to connect the former Austrian province of Lombardy with the rest of Austria, covering a climb of 1,871m. The engineer and project manager was Carlo Donegani (1775–1845). Since then, the route has changed very little, but the uses and visitors definitely have...

Each year on the last Saturday of August or first Saturday of September the Stelvio National Park administration organizes the Stelvio Bike Day. On this day the roads from Bormio and Prad to the pass, as well as the road from Santa Maria Val Müstair to the Umbrail Pass are closed to all traffic except for bicycles. On average around 12,000 cyclists participate in the Bike Day, with the majority taking the road from Prad to the pass and the descent over the Umbrail pass to Val Müstair. So be warned!

Photos

Dave O'Byrne
European Touring Route AS

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Highlights

Passo dello Stelvio
Dreisprachenspitze
Thurwieserspitze
Piz Umbrail
Piz Cotschen
The Ortler
Valtellina
Vinschgau Valley

Enjoy Stelvio in Style

If you get the chance in the future, come back here on/in a different vehicle, and see how different your experience of Stelvio Pass is - but please, don't try to drive your RV or campervan up over this pass - not because, you won't make it, maybe you will - but simply because your egomaniacal impulses will completely destroy the unique experiences of anyone else that is unfortunate enough to be trying to enjoy their once-in-a-lifetime experience of this great stretch of road on the same day that you are flopping about in your fat-arsed familywagon. There is no McDonalds at the top! No KFC! No 7-Eleven!

So do humanity a favour, and leave your gas-guzzling gun-carrying obesity-smuggling RV in Texas, and enjoy this masterpiece of European engineering magnificence the way it was designed to be enjoyed - on a motorcycle, in a Ferrari, on a bicycle or at least, something cool, refined, timeless, intelligent, with history, culture, depth, class and style, optimised horsepower and some credibility.

Stelvio National Park and Three Languages Peak

Established in 1935, Stelvio National Park is the largest in the Italian Alps, and covers the Ortles-Cevedale massif, as well as some minor chains that flank it. Wildlife in the park include deer, chamois, ibex, and wolves. Hiking in the park is possible with numerous trails and mountain huts and hiking trails.

The Umbrail Pass runs northwards from the Stelvio's western ramp, and the "Three Languages Peak" (Dreisprachenspitze) sits above the pass, and nearby mountains include Thurwieserspitze, Piz Umbrail, Piz Cotschen, and to the east, the Ortler. Motor racer Stirling Moss went off the road here during a vintage car event in the 1990's, with an onboard video of his incident being shown on satellite Television.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire

Before the end of World War I, Passo dello Stelvio formed the border between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Italian Kingdom. The Swiss had an outpost and a hotel (which was destroyed) on the Dreisprachenspitze (Three-Language-Peak) so named because this is where the Italian, German, and Romansh language-speaking areas meet. During World War I, fierce battles were fought in the ice and snow of the area, with gunfire even crossing the Swiss area at times. The three nations made an agreement not to fire over Swiss territory, which jutted out in between Austria (to the north) and Italy (to the south). Instead they could fire down the pass, as Swiss territory was up and around the peak. After 1919, with the expansion of Italy, the pass lost its strategic importance.

Industrial development in the region

Stelvio Pass connects the Valtellina with the Vinschgau valley and the town of Meran. Adjacent to the pass road there is a large summer skiing area. The area between Sondrio and Stelvio is significant for many reasons, one of which is Industrially. The area is famous as the home of the worlds first mainline electrified railway, with the electrification of the Valtellina Line, in 1902.

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