ロトツォの峠・トップ20

The Vezzena Pass, on the Costo road, connects the Asiago plateau with Lavarone. The road to Luserna also starts here.

BOCCHETTA PORTULE: one of the symbolic places of the Great War. Bocchetta Portule is a large saddle that separates the Portule massif from Cima dell'Arsenale and Monte Colombarone. It played a crucial role in the Austrian logistical organization from mid-1916 to the end of 1917. Next to the saddle, the Italians had built a battery emplacement in the rock to block the Val d'Assa. But the fire of its pieces was not particularly effective and when the imperials occupied Cima Portule they also took possession of the saddle, equipping it with a wide road, two cableways and drinking water tanks.

Pass height reached at 1402 m via the Strada del Menador.

Arriving at Vezzena from the Menador after so much effort you can admire the beautiful valley of the 7 municipalities!!

Crossing point of the crossing from the Barricata refuge to Vezzena and on the military road that climbs from the Galmarara valley

It can be tackled from Levico going towards Lochere. Start of climb which, at the first bends, rises well over double figures. Then, after the crossroads, it regularly bites just under 10%: a segment mainly in a straight line, with a couple of hairpin bends, which when the sun beats down can get scorching hot. After a bend to the left, just above 800 metres, here is the first tunnel dug into the rock: an image that immerses us in the historical dimension of this climb. It is about twenty meters long, less than three meters wide (the Menador is in fact forbidden to vehicles wider than two and a half metres). Here the slope allows you to breathe for a moment, shortly after there is the second tunnel, similar to the first and then you arrive at the hardest segment of all: from kilometer six, three thousand meters of hard sweating, divided into three parts of similar length. At 10% and above the first, constantly at 12% the second and finally always above 9% the third, before reaching Monterovere (altitude 1,261).

Great path with great views

The hike begins at Passo Venezza