The Cyclist’s Bucket List

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The Mortirolo, the Gavia, and the Stelvio, Italy

The Mortirolo, the Gavia, and the Stelvio: These three mountain passes rise above all others in Italy, both in altitude and in legend. The tiny, serpentine roads accessing these storied peaks wind through towering rock formations. They endlessly switchback up—up above the treeline, up above the clouds—into the craggy Italian Alps and the Dolomites, on the border of Switzerland. The Giro d’Italia, the Italians’ version of the Tour de France, first made the cycling world aware of these climbs in the mid-1900s, but the roads—originally dirt paths—date back as far as the 18th century. From the village of Bormio, nestled deep amongst these Alpine peaks, a cyclist can ascend the Mortirolo, the Gavia, and the Stelvio. A masochist may ride all three passes in a single day.

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