Published on: 17 March 2013 | Last updated: 9 February 2018
My suggested route takes you to the Passo Duran (1605m) - a climb of a little under a thousand metres over 8 kilometres. The top is the border between the Trentino and the Veneto. The route then descends down to Forno di Zoldo before climbing again to the Forcella Cibiana (1530m) and then on to the village of Cibiana: if you have time, turn off the road and go through the village to see its murals -you won’t be disappointed.
Going on from Cibiana the route joins with the Lunga Via delle Dolomiti cycleway. The cycleway follows the route of the old rail line used by the Trenino delle Dolomiti (little train of thE Dolomites) between Calalzo di Cadore in the Piave valley and Toblach (Dobbiaco) on the other side of the Dolomites. Originally it linked Italy with Austria and you can see the old customs post (dogana) just before Cortina. You can see pictures of the trenino on display in the old signal box on your right just as you join the cycleway. Look out for the lovely old stations along the route.
Map and altitude profile
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Distances | |
---|---|
Alleghe - Agordo | 17 kms |
Agordo - Forno di Zoldo | 24 kms |
Forno di Zoldo - Cibiana di Cadore | 17 kms |
Cibiana di Cadore - Cortina d’Ampezzo | 26 kms |
The cycleway is tarmac for pretty much all the way to Cortina although just before Cortina there’s a short stretch along an unsurfaced track where some people may prefer to take to the road.
Forno di Zoldo
Forno di Zoldo was, as the names suggests (a forno - is an oven furnace or kiln) a centre for ironworking - specialising in nails. The industry in the area dates back to at least 1200. In the fifteenth and 16th centuries it was producing 400 tonnes of nails a year. Iron ore from the nearby mountains was turned into nails that were taken by mule train down the valley to the Piave river and by boat to Venezia.
More about the history of Forno di Zoldo
The nails that held together Venezia’s vast navy and merchant shipping fleet were made here. As late as 1873 the cooperative Società Industriale Zoldana brought together 600 people employed in nail-making. However, the end was in sight. The industry was facing increasing competition from machine-made nails and in 1890 a disastrous flood swept away most of the forges - which had been built beside the river to use water power - as well as roads bridges and houses.
In common with many hundreds of thousands of others many people from the valley emigrated abroad - and the town is twinned with a small village called Rio Jordao in Brazil where many of the emigrants settled and, it’s said, that some of the inhabitants still speak the local dialect of Forno di Zoldo.
Others, like so many across the mountains of northern Italy took to the road as itinerant workers or vendors. Forno di Zoldo’s other claim to fame is to be the Valle del Gelato Artigianale - accordIng to the comune itinerant vendors from the valley first began to sell ‘sorbetti’ from small handcarts and in the period between the First and Second World Wars there wasn’t a city in Europe which didn’t have a gelateria Zoldana.
Options
From Alleghe you could head for Cortina d’Ampezzo via the Passo di Giau (2233m) or the Passo di Falzarego (2105m).
More information
Places to stay
Transport and services
Articles in this series
- The Dolomites (West-East): Overview
- The Dolomites (West-East) Part 1
- The Dolomites (West-East) – Part 2
- The Dolomites (West-East) – Part 3
- Dolomites (West-East) – Lago di Garda variant
- The Dolomites (West-East) – Part 4
- The Dolomites (West-East) – Part 5
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