My Ten Most Difficult Italian Climbs - 7th Hardest: Passo Fittanze della Sega

Location:  Trentino-Alto. Adig, Dolomites

Departure: Sdruzzina

Length: 14.1km

Altitude: 1,393m

Height Gain: 1,233m

Average Gradient: 8.8%

Maximum Gradient: 20.0%

The difficult-to-find village of Sdruzzina effectively marks the beginning of the 14.1 kilometre climb up the Passo Fittanze della Sega. A brute of a climb, boasting an 8.8% average gradient, it virtually assaults you the moment you turn sharply onto the narrow SS11 road. 

Narrow at first, while two small villas straddle the roadside, the tarmac soon widens and rises, as high as 20%, through beautiful woodland. Dissipating, before re-emerging again, the shade is your only friend until you reach a flat 600 metre section of road, almost half-way up the pass.

Rising again, even more steeply than before, my 8 kilometre per hour speed around the road’s relentless hairpins was a sobering reminder of what, up until now, had been a very formidable climb. With a height of only 1,392 metres, it might seem a dwarf compared to its northern counterparts, Gavia, Stelvio and the Tre Cime de Lavaredo; but there’s no disputing the pass's steeper average gradient, made all the more daunting when you factor in its more gentile approach to the summit.

Still early in the ride, the view back down the valley road.

Leaving the steep forest slopes behind, the lush, green meadows of Sega di Ala appeared for the very first time. With the gradient easing off and in full view of Monte Lessini’s spectacular summit to the east, the strain of the previous 90 minutes had all but dissipated.

           

A far cry from Passo Stelvio’s marketable summit, there not a great deal of fanfare at the top of the pass, apart from a cosy small bar and eatery, and a war memorial to the fallen soldiers of the 1st and 2nd World Wars. 

The war memorial at the top of the pass.

Though the Passo delle Fittanze has yet to make an appearance in the Giro d'Italia, according to Italian cyclist Damiano Cunego, it's "right up there on a par with the Mortirolo".  Now having tasted both, I intend to agree with him. Longer and not much less steeper, it's certainly not far behind.

Books by Mark Krieger:

‘High Spain Drifter’ is available on Amazon , Barnes and Noble, Booktopia  and other online bookstores. 

‘Lycra, Lattes and the Long Way Round’ is available on Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble, Kobo Books


Both books are also available at local bookshops on the Mornington Peninsula: @ Rosebud Bookbarn and @ La Brocante

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”                                 H. G. Wells