Chapter One · The Pass
Passo dello Stelvio.
2,758 metres. 48 hairpins. One pass.
The definitive encyclopaedia of Italy's highest paved alpine col — its three access roads, its Giro d'Italia heritage, and the opening dates that frame every season we operate.
Origin & Geography
A road engineered by the Habsburg Empire in 1825, still considered one of the finest driving roads in the world.
The Passo dello Stelvio rises to 2,758 metres (9,045 ft) on the watershed between the Ortler Alps and the Livigno range, marking the border between Lombardy and South Tyrol. Surveyed between 1818 and 1820 and completed in 1825 under the direction of the Austrian imperial engineer Carlo Donegani, the road was conceived as a strategic year-overland connection between Milan and Innsbruck — a counterpart to the Umbrail that remains, to this day, one of the highest paved mountain passes in the Alps.
For two centuries the pass has done more than move traffic. It has staged the climactic climbs of the Giro d'Italia, framed the careers of Fausto Coppi and more recently of the modern maglia rosa contenders, and served as the testing ground for chassis, tyres, and engines from Milan to Stuttgart. It is both geography and cultural landmark: a paved ribbon of 48 switchbacks on the Prato allo Stelvio side alone — the most of any paved Alpine pass — and a stone-walled corridor where the climate of mid-July can feel like that of late March.
Because the pass sits above the snowline, vehicle access follows a strict seasonal rhythm. The road is generally closed to traffic from November through May, when the carriageway is buried under as much as nine metres of compacted snow, and reopens only after the spring convoys organised with the Stelvio National Park authority and the provincial road service. Every season of guided tours we operate is anchored to those opening dates, not to the calendar — a discipline that has shaped how we plan, how we book, and how we keep our zero-cancellation promise.
The summit itself is a small alpine piazza: a memorial obelisk, the border stones between Lombardy and South Tyrol, a café that opens when the road opens, and the start of the easy walk toward the Livrio ridge. From here, on a clear morning, you can see the Ortler, the Cevedale, and the Bernina massif turning pale in the southern light. Few paved roads in the world offer this combination of engineered drama and panoramic stillness.
- Elevation2,758 m / 9,045 ft
- Hairpins (Prato side)48 turns
- Opened to vehiclesLate May – early November
- First surveyed1818 – 1820
- Completed1825, under the Austrian Empire
- LocationItaly · Lombardy / South Tyrol
The Three Approaches
Three distinct roads climb to the same summit — and the character of your day is decided long before the summit monument.
Every Stelvio itinerary begins with a single question: which side do you want to climb first? Below, the three paved approaches in the order most guests meet them — each with its own gradient profile, hairpin cadence, and views.
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01
The Classic
Prato allo Stelvio
The approach most cyclists and most driving enthusiasts mean when they say "the Stelvio." It opens from the Vinschgau valley floor and climbs through apple orchards, larch forest, and a long glacial staircase of stone-walled switchbacks. The gradient is relentless, the corners are tight, and the rhythm of the 48 numbered turns is what most guests remember first.
Best for: the canonical first ascent, cycling simulations, and dramatic photography.
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02
The Engineer's Road
Bormio
The longer and more flowing of the two Italian approaches, rising from the spa town of Bormio through the Valdisotto and the old granite quarries. The corners are wider, the gradients more consistent, and the descent to Bormio after the summit is, in our judgement, the most satisfying of the three. This is the side we use most often for guided convoys and for guests joining us in convoy during the spring pass-opening ceremony.
Best for: smoother driving rhythm, longer gear ratios, and pairing with a Bormio hotel night.
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03
The Quiet Side
Trafoi
The shortest and steepest of the three approaches, and the one most frequently underestimated. Trafoi climbs from the hamlet of the same name in South Tyrol through a tight gorge, past the famous Stilfser waterfalls, and joins the main pass road at the cantoniera above the snow sheds. It is the side we drive when we want stillness, and the side we recommend for guests who want their second ascent to feel like a discovery.
Best for: second-ascent discovery rides, waterf
§ Seasonal Calendar
An Alpine Pass With a Short, Luminous Driving Season
The Passo dello Stelvio is open to motor vehicles for roughly six months a year — typically from late May through early November — and closed to all wheeled traffic the remainder of the calendar as snow returns to the 2,758-metre summit. The transition weeks bookend the year like a slow curtain.
The Opening Ceremony
Each spring, normally in the final days of May or the first week of June, the Stelvio National Park authority clears the last drifts from the summit bends and re-opens the road with a small civic ceremony at the pass. The Italian side, on Lombardy territory, is the side that reopens; the South Tyrolean Trafoi approach often follows days later.
Stelvio Pass Travel Co. is the only operator permitted to run convoy ascents during this re-opening weekend — a privilege earned across eighteen consecutive seasons.
A Note on the Closed Months
From early November the summit is closed to vehicles, to motorcycles, and to bicycles. Snow accumulates on the top twenty or so hairpins for the entire winter. The pass is in Italy only — never in Switzerland — and we do not offer heli-skiing, winter ascent tours, or any snow-season vehicle access.
Plan your drive against the official opening window, not against wishful thinking.
Chapter II · Cycling Heritage
Cima Coppi: Where the Giro d'Italia Writes Its Own Mountain
In peloton folklore, the highest point of any Giro d'Italia is a single, named place: the Cima Coppi — chosen each year in honour of Fausto Coppi, the postwar campionissimo who first cracked the Stelvio open for road racing in 1953. Because the Stelvio rises higher than any other paved summit in professional cycling, it returns to the Giro time and again as an obligatory set piece, even as the route changes around it. The maglia rosa has crossed its hairpins in both directions; the broadcast helicopter has lifted from its gravel margins more often than any other summit in the race.
For road cyclists, those forty-eight switchbacks on the Prato allo Stelvio ascent — the most of any paved Alpine pass — read less like a road and more like a pilgrimage. Riders who will never turn a wheel in anger still queue for the climb at 5 a.m. in July, alone on the warm asphalt, simply to be on it. We design the cycling chapters of our itineraries to honour that tradition: early start windows, summit café stops timed against predicted wind, and a support vehicle always on the radio below the third galerie.
A note for first-time visitors: the Stelvio is not the highest paved road in Europe — neighbouring Alpine passes and Pyrenean coles all approach similar altitudes — but it is the highest the Giro has ever finished a stage at, which gives it a hold on the cultural imagination that numbers alone cannot claim.