The Via Alemagna near Ospitale di Cadore

Overview

The München-Venezia cycle route continues from Sottocastello following the historic via Alemagna. The road is part of a historic route linking the Tirol with the Venetian Republic, and was used by travellers heading not just for Venezia, but to the Mediterranean. It is also known as the Via Regia- — the imperial road, reflecting the fact that it was used by Maximilian I and other emperors invading, or travelling to, Venezia.

After the destruction of the Repubblica Veneziana by Napoleon, the Veneto became Austrian territory. The Austrian governor decided to upgrade the road, and the contract to build it was awarded to Antonio Talachini (who was also one of the contractors who built the roads over the Passo dello Stelvio). The 130-kilometre long road was opened in 1830.

This section of the original imperial road has now been replaced by the modern SS51 which runs through a series of long tunnels, leaving the old road for (sparse) local traffic and cyclists.

The road follows the Piave river as it carves its way between the Friuli and Veneto Dolomites. The scenery is every bit as grand as the previous section.

Map and altitude profile

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Sottocastello to Castellavazzo

The turning for Sottocastello is at a cross­roads in the outskirts of Pieve di Cadore. At the cross­roads to your left is the Via Arsenale leading uphill to the centre of Pieve, and the Lunga Via delle Dolomiti cycleway resumes on the other side of the road. Turn right and head downhill on the Via Villanova which leads into the Via San Valentino. The Via San Valentino brings you into the Piazza San Leonardo in Sottocastello, beside the church. There’s also a little bar on the piazza. Continue on, as the Piazza San Leonardo leads into the Via Giovanni XXIII, and the Via Caduti del Lavoro. At the bottom, turn right and go past the signs indic­ating that you are leaving Sottocastello di Cadore. Don’t take the road that leads to the lake (lago).

The new road (the Via Arcole) comes out onto the main SS51; there’s a shortish stretch of ciclabile that runs beside the main road. The cycleway goes under the SS51 and comes out onto the Strada Cavallera (SP42) and from here the road makes a dramatic descent down into the Piave river valley and the village of Perarlo di Cadore

The gorge gets narrower, and the mountains loom over you — my neck started to ache from constantly looking up. This road is as dramatic as any you find in other parts of the Dolomites (we are still in the Dolomites).

You come to the point where the cycleway has been closed and you have to take to the strada statale. If you’re tempted to test whether there is some way of getting over or around the closure, the short answer is ‘no, there isn’t’: people who have tried tell me that the cycleway is defin­itely not passable (thanks to Andy B for the inform­ation on that).

Cyclists riding the cycleway on the banks of the Piave near Castellavazzo — currently tempor­arily closed)

Castellavazzo to the Lago di Santa Croce

If you’ve taken the SS51, you turn left when you come to a zebra crossing at the junction with the Via Giovanni Uberti. The Via Uberti takes you to a bridge, and the München-Venezia cycle route continues, as before, on the right bank of the Piave, through the village of Codissago. The town of Longarone is on the other side of the river. If you’ve taken the train, you can rejoin the route at the next bridge (the Ponte Campelli).

The Diga di Vajont (Vajont dam)

As you ride through the area you may notice some roadside memorials. They commem­orate one of Europe’s worst indus­trial disasters: in the evening of the 9 October 1963, a huge landslide into the lake behind the dam sent a massive 250 metre-high wave over the top of the dam that came crashing down on Longarone on the other side of the river destroying the town. Nearly two thousand people died in the disaster in Longarone and the surrounding area: the wall of water was 30 metres high when it hit nearby Castellavazzo and Codissago and more than 12 metres high when it hit Belluno and Ponte nelle Alpi further down river. Read more on en.wikipedia.org: Vajont Dam

The campanile of the church at Pirago which somehow remained standing after the surrounding village was completely destroyed. Source Wikipedia Commons

The route takes you past the dam - although it’s not partic­u­larly visible from the road.

From the memorial and the diga you carry on along the road as it passes Provagna. The road turns right and head for a bridge over the Piave, but just before your reach the bridge you need to turn sharp right, go under the bridge and then follow a cycleway and very, very, quiet road that follow the course of the river.

The route takes you the ENEL electricity gener­ation plant at Soverzene. The centrale is named after Achille Gaggia, the inventor of the modern espresso machine. Signor Gaggia came from Milano, and so far as I know, had no connec­tions with the area, but please don’t let that detail stop you saluting him as you pass by.

When I rode this route in 2015, you then had to cross over the river and head for Ponte nelle Alpi where there was a section of 2.5 kilometres on the busy SS51. The local author­ities in the area have built new sections cycleway, meaning the that you can stay on this side of the Piave river and avoid the busy road.

At the ENEL plant you turn left (signposted with a München-Venezia sign), after 20 metres there is a small entrance, between two high sections of chain link fencing, onto the new section of the route (also signed with the München-Venezia sign). Many thanks to Bill C who provided the inform­ation on this. According to the map, there are a couple of sections of compacted-aggregate cycleway as you go past the hydro­electric dam at Soverzene. These continue for a bit over a kilometres, but after that there’s an asphalt-surfaced cycleway.

From Soverzene you continue, mainly on a newly-constructed cycleway, the Pista Ciclabile Via Regia which takes you the 12 kilometres to the Lago di Santa Croce.