Best Cycling Climbs

Country guide · Italian Alps & Carnic Alps (Friuli)

Cycling climbs in Italy

Italy is the home of the Giro d'Italia, with some of the highest pass roads in the Alps and some of the steepest climbs in racing. We cover the Passo dello Stelvio — the Giro's Cima Coppi — its wilder neighbour the Passo di Gavia, and Monte Zoncolan in the Carnic Alps of Friuli, with more Italian climbs to follow.

Map — Italian climbs

Interactive map of the climbs currently covered. Markers open each guide. Built with OpenStreetMap + Leaflet.

All Italy climbs

3 guides live — Giro legends, from the highest pass road in Italy and the Gavia's 1988 snowstorm to the Giro's steepest wall in Friuli. Mortirolo and more are planned.

The stacked hairpins of the Stelvio Pass road on the Prato (South Tyrol) side, seen from near the summit, with snow still lying beside the road in late May

Italian Alps · South Tyrol / Lombardy (Ortler–Stelvio)

Passo dello Stelvio

Forty-eight numbered hairpins, 1,808 m of climbing and a summit at 2,757 m: the Stelvio is the highest pass road in Italy, the hig…

24.3 km 7.4% avg 2,757 m summit
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The top of the road up Monte Zoncolan: fresh tarmac and Giro-style road signs in the foreground, with the road curving up a grassy slope between fir trees and green Carnic mountains under low cloud behind

Italian Carnic Alps · Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Carnia)

Monte Zoncolan

Monte Zoncolan is the climb the Giro d'Italia uses when it wants to hurt people. From the village of Ovaro the road gains about 1,…

10.1 km 11.9% avg 1,730 m (mountain 1,750 m) summit
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The south side of the Passo di Gavia: a narrow road winding across a high grassy plateau with small lakes, below a long ridge of dark mountains under a blue sky

Italian Alps · Lombardy (Valcamonica / Valfurva, Stelvio National Park)

Passo di Gavia

The Passo di Gavia is the Stelvio's wilder neighbour: a narrow road, often only one car wide, that climbs from Ponte di Legno to a…

16.5 km 8.0% avg 2,621 m summit
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Planning a trip? Start with our guide to pacing, effort and fueling on long climbs, or compare with the France climbs.