Published on: 13 January 2018 | Last updated: 22 December 2019
At a glance
Distance
45 kilometres
Difficulty/terrain
Easy — downhill or flat.
Traffic
Cycleways and quiet roads (with the exception of a short section on the busy SS51). The northern part of the cycle route follows the old Via Alemagna which has now been replaced by the SS51 and most traffic takes the newer road.
Surfaces
Mainly tarmac-surfaced roads or cycleways.
Signposting
Well signposted.
Connections
At Soverzene you can follow a cycle route that takes you to Belluno, and from here continue via Sospirolo to Cesiomaggiore where you can connect with the Via Claudia.
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This section of the original imperial road has now been replaced by the modern SS51 which runs through a series of long tunnels, leaving the old road for (sparse) local traffic and cyclists.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
Powered by WP-GPX Maps
tips for using the map

Run your cursor over the graph to show the elevation, and distance from the start, for any given point on the route. (Note: the altitude graph is not shown where the route is flat).

Click the little icon in the right-hand corner to see the map fullscreen
Distances | |
---|---|
Sottocastello di Cadore - Longarone | 24 kms |
Longarone - Soverzene | 8 kms |
Soverzene - Farra d’Alpage (Lago di Santa Croce)’ | 13 kms |
Update (June 2019): some bad news
Northern Italy was badly hit by storms at the end of October 2018. This has resulted in the closure of a key section of cycleway as the route approaches Castellavazzo, south of Cortina d’Ampezzo and cyclists have to take to the busy SS51 for 1.6 kilometres.
There are difficult left turns at both ends of this section, although there is a pedestrian crossing at the junction at the end (where you turn onto the the Via Uberti). The local cyclists organisation FIAB Belluno are campaigning for traffic lights to be installed. They have posted a video here: bellunoinbici.it: Per una Monaco-Venezia più sicura (For a Safer München-Venezia) which will give you a pretty good idea of how tricky the turn at the end of the Via Termine would be. There’s another, that illustrates what the SS51 is like, and why they are so concerned: bellunoinbici.it: Ciclisti in pericolo sulla SS51 (Cyclists in danger on the SS51).
Another reason the FIAB Belluno are so concerned is that the cycleway is set to close due to work on this section of the SS51in preparation for the 2021 Ski World Championships. The closure could last for up to two years.
If you want to avoid this section of road, there are a couple of alternatives: the first is to carry on the Lunga Via delle Dolomiti cycleway to to Calalzo di Cadore take the train from there to Longarone; the second is to follow the München-Venezia cycle route to Perarolo di Cadore and catch the train from there. See the Transport and services tab for more advice on the train option.
You could reduce the distance you have to ride on the SS51by turning off to go through the centre of Castellavazzo.
If you have any news on developments on this section that I can pass on, please send me an email.
The FIAB Belluno website: bellunoinbici.it is the best place to look for news on any safety measures.
I’m really grateful to Lee Z for getting in touch to tell me about this.
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.
More information
Places to stay
Transport and services
Resources
Articles in this series
- München-Venezia Overview
- München-Venezia: 1: München to Achenkirch
- München-Venezia: 2: Achenkirch to Hall-in-Tirol
- München-Venezia: 3: Hall-in-Tirol to Brenner
- München-Venezia: 4: Brenner to Fortezza Franzensfeste
- München-Venezia: 5: the PusterTal (Fortezza Franzensfeste to Toblach)
- München-Venezia: 6: the Ciclabile delle Dolomiti
- München-Venezia: 7: the Via Alemagna (Sotto Castello di Cadore to the Lago di Santa Croce)
- München-Venezia: 8: the Lago di Santa Croce to Treviso
- München-Venezia: 9: Treviso to Venezia
Get in touch
Please get in touch if you find any errors in the information, or if there’s anything, good or bad, that you’d want other cyclists to know.
Join the mailing list?
If you’ve found this site useful why not sign up to the mailing list for occasional updates about new routes.