Ride Day 6: Resia to Glurns, Italy, preparing for the Passo della Stelvio

Today’s ride was probably the shortest we have ever done – only 30 km.  But the good reason for it was to have fresh legs for tomorrow’s ride.  Nonetheless, it was a very interesting 30 km from Resia to Glurns, Italy.

A beautiful alpine morning in Resia (Reschen in the German spoken here).  We had a huge breakfast at the hotel and then mozied off down the road, south toward Glurns (Glorenza in the Italian spoken here).  

Early morning, Resia reservoi

The first stop was just a few km out of town on the lake where the well-known church steeple pokes through the reservoir surface.  This is a famous spot, and of course there are many photos of it, but there is a super interesting and compelling story behind what happened.  You can find the story elsewhere, but in a nutshell the reservoir had been in planning (against the locals) since the late 1920s.  The locals were fighting it every step of the way, but then when the fascist regime took over Italy in the 1930s they expanded the scope of the project and pushed ahead with it, moving hundreds of villagers out and drowning their entire village.  The church spire was left as a reminder of the village that still lies below the surface of the reservoir.  The displaced people were forced into relocation camps and they have never been compensated  The bells were long ago removed from the spire, but the story is told that at times they can still be heard.

The story and the imagery is impressive.  As was the morning and the beautiful valley.  A few photos:

Looking back north to Resia

Soon enough we arrived in the ancient, walled village of Glurns, which is all downhill from Resia.  It is a very pretty village, if a bit full of tourist busses.

Glurns, inside the walls

Riding through the gate

Still early enough for coffee while the bike waits

View across the valley from Glurns

We settled in, hoping for no thunderstorms, and did some bike maintenance to be sure the bike is in good shape for the ride up the Stelvio tomorrow.  Since we had a long afternoon, we stopped by the Puni Distillery in Glurns, which is the first distillery in Italy that is making whiskey.  They started about 5 years ago and have some young whiskeys that have promise.  But the building and the presentation are very, well, Italian.

Puni Distillery, Glurns

The whiskey

Very interesting architecture

Tomorrow we ride the Stelvio.  The pass is legendary.  It is the second highest pass in all of Europe, topping out at 2,770 M (9,088 feet).  The ascent goes through 48 famous hairpin turns, each numbered consecutively from bottom to top.  Here's a photo of the upper part of the ride:

And another photo of the upper section:

We will strip the bike of all the panniers and trunks for this ride!  Yeah, we're riding naked in a sense.  Here's an elevation profile.

Not the steepest we've ridden, but surely the most epic

This pass is famous in so many ways and ever since I have been riding I have wanted to ride it.  We'll be going up the north/east side of the pass -- the other side goes down toward Bormio.  Not surprisingly, at 2,770 M this is always the Cima Coppi when the pass features in the Giro d'Italia!

The original road was engineered and built by the Italian engineer Carlo Donegani and it has changed very little since it was completed in 1825 (it was in the Austrian Empire at that time).

Ciao.