The Stelvio Pass is 200 Years Old

Photo Samuele Bertoli / Unsplash

Two centuries ago possibly the most famous mountain pass… in the world was completed.

Today the Stelvio Pass is best known as a drivers’ and riders’ playground, but it was built, like many other famous roads, for military means. The Habsburgs of Lombardy had faired badly against Napoleon, and the only way to defend against future incursions was to better connect the region with the rest of the Austrian Empire.

So, in 1818 Austrian Emperor Francis I ordered the building of a road over the mountains. It had actually been planned ten years previously, when engineer Carlo Donegani envisioned a 3.5-metre wide track that would climb at a gradient of around 15 per cent. However, by the time construction was due to begin the heavy horse-drawn artillery wouldn’t have been able to make it up, so a different approach was taken. The road itself was built wider, at 5.5 metres and less steep, at no more than ten per cent gradient.

There were also fewer switchbacks. Donegani had planned for 61 hairpins on the Tyrol side of the pass but the final construction made do with 48 – each one of these tornanti, famously numbered. A further 22 hairpins see you over the other side.

Construction began in 1820 and was completed five years later thanks to more than 1,500 people toiling away on the hillside, and at a cost of 419,658 Austro-Hungarian guldens. The Stelvio Pass was originally planned to provide year-round access, but there was insufficient material to build sufficient protection from rock falls and avalanches. As a result it is typically closed for around six months of the year from November to May.

The first motorists arrived in 1898 and by the 1920s it was an occasional race track, with legends such as Hans Stuck and Tazio Nuvolari competing for the fastest time up its steep slopes, and today it remains a right of passage for petrolheads and pedalists from all over the world.

If you fancy a taking on the Stelvio yourself then check out our guide.

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