Passo Falzarego
Pass · 2105 m · Dolomites
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Passo Falzarego, at 2,105 metres, connects Cortina d'Ampezzo with the Cordevole valley along the Great Dolomites Road. Its steep rock faces were a First World War battlefield between Italy and Austria-Hungary, and bunkers and interpretive signs from that fighting still line the approach. On the Giro d'Italia, Fausto Coppi beat Gino Bartali up this climb in 1946.
This is the final stretch of the Great Dolomites Road, opened on 13 September 1909 after nearly a decade of construction requested by the Alpine clubs of Bolzano and Merano, and its completion was reported across Europe and the United States as one of the era's great engineering feats. Within a decade the same road sat on the front line: Austrian and Italian troops held positions barely metres apart on the peaks above, and combat there was fought mostly underground, each side tunnelling toward the other's positions to lay mines. From the pass, a second road climbs north over the Valparola saddle beneath Sass de Stria toward Val Badia, itself lined with more First World War positions. The Giro d'Italia has climbed Falzarego repeatedly since 1976, most recently in 2016, when Esteban Chaves won the stage into Corvara and Steven Kruijswijk took over the race lead.
What you see
Sheer rock walls of the Tofana massif rise beside the final hairpins, with the jagged spires of the Cinque Torri visible across the valley below the pass.
part of: Cafés at the foot of the climbpart of: The highest paved roads in North Americawwi frontdolomites