カステルヴィットリオの峠・トップ18

レッソからは道は長いですが、それほど難しくなく、緩やかな上り坂が多く、グラベルバイクに適した良い路面です

The end point of the very long climb starting from Imperia or Taggia. Also accessible with a road bike. From here, the Via Marenca starts north for those wishing to reach the Garezzo tunnel.

The summit point for those who climb from Imperia, passing through the Teglie Pass. Here you finally enter the maze of high altitude military roads, and the salt road. The tunnel is only a few meters long, but it connects two watersheds: the valley of the empire and that of the Argentina torrent. What rains here or there ends up in two different watersheds.

A decent effort but well worth the stunning views

the race gallery

panoramic pass

An ancient meeting point for the people of the Rezzo, Impero, and Argentina valleys. From the pass, you can enjoy an incredible view; I recommend using an app to identify the peaks to orient yourself (e.g., PeakFinder, free). This wide, grassy saddle between Mount Arborea and Cima della Donzella is almost certainly the one mentioned several times by Italo Calvino in his novel "The Path to the Spiders' Nest."

For gravel bikes this is the best place to understand how to continue your via del sale. From here you have 3 choices: 1. continue straight with a nice climb towards Balcone di Marta (and up to here it is possible), but then the descent to the Allavena refuge is not very suitable for gravel due to the road conditions 2. go down to Realdo, initially a dirt road then becomes asphalted and is easy to do. Then from there you go down to Triora via the provincial road 3. go down into France via La Brigue (another easy dirt road) to connect to the Valle Roja state road and eventually arrive in Ventimiglia (or take the train to Ventimiglia at Saint Dalmas de Tende). In that case you pass by the very famous church of Notre Dame with a fabulous cycle of frescoes.