The Ponale road (Italian: Strada del Ponale) is a road on the northern west shore of Lake Garda that connects Riva del Garda with the Val di Ledro. Today it is only accessible to hikers and cyclists. The Ponale road was built between 1848 and 1851 by Giacomo Cis to connect the Ledro valley with the Garda area. In honour of its builder, it was named after him (Sentiero del Ponale di Giacomo Cis). It was the first and only direct connection from the Lake Garda area to the Ledro valley and ended its isolation. The Austrian military also quickly became aware of the importance of this road as a gateway towards Riva. As early as 1859, after the Second Italian War of Independence and the loss of Lombardy, people thought about fortifying the road and subsequently built a small open artillery position along the road. When, during the Third Italian War of Independence, during the Battle of Bezzecca on July 21, 1866, Italian free troops under Giuseppe Garibaldi could only be stopped on the Ponale road with the help of the Garda Flotilla and the San Nicolo battery, this first defensive position was abandoned because it was considered inadequate. By the end of the 19th century, various plans had been drawn up to build a barrier on the Ponale. These were finally implemented in 1904 with the construction of the Ponale roadblock on the third road tunnel that now comes from Riva. During the First World War, this facility was largely expanded underground and became part of the Ponale barrier group, which belonged to the so-called Riva Fortress.
The first automobiles drove on this road in 1891. Over a century after its construction, the fact that the road was regularly impassable due to landslides forced the municipality to develop an alternative project that could safely handle an ever-increasing flow of traffic.
In 1982, the two 1120 m and 3600 m long tunnels from Riva up into the Ledro Valley were opened. The lower part of the Ponale road, which was no longer needed, was then closed. The section between the Ledro Valley and Pregasina remained open to car traffic until another tunnel was opened between the Ledro Valley and Pregasina in 1998. From that point on, the entire Ponale road was officially closed, but continued to be used by mountain bikers and hikers.
In 2000, a landslide occurred on the Ponale road, resulting in several deaths. The barriers at the entrances were then significantly tightened. However, mountain bikers still managed to bypass or override the barriers so that they could continue to use the Ponale road.
After extensive reconstruction work, in which around €820,000 was invested, the Ponale road was reopened as a cycle and pedestrian path in July 2004 and has since been given the path number D01. Hikers and mountain bikers have been able to use the Ponale road again without restrictions since then.
In June 2014, the old Ponale Alto Belvedere rest stop on the Ponale road was reopened to mark its 100th anniversary. Source Wikipedia