Gravel tour in Val di Scalve

The tour to discover the Scalve valley starts from the Clusone car park, from where you start cycling passing through Rovetta and Onore. The Val di Res, on the right bank of the Gera stream, allows you to reach the town of Castione della Presolana, far from the traffic among mountain huts and huts seemingly out of time. The alternative climb up to the Presolana pass (at an altitude of 1,297 metres), which passes through the lively center of Dorga, tickles the massive and imposing walls of the "Queen of the Orobie".

Then the steep road famous for the stages and murals of the Giro d'Italia projects you into Val di Scalve. Among these you can admire the famous water bottle passage between Bartali and Coppi. From Dezzo you go up to Azzone, where you enter the regional nature reserve "Boschi del Giovetto di Paline".

The dense spruce woods are the kingdom of the rufa ant, to which an impressive sculpture by Mattia Trotta is also dedicated. In the shadow of this evocative park you will find the ancient Furfì sawmill and a geomorphological route that reveals the actions of the glaciers still visible on the slopes that outline the Bergamo valleys. A steep and fun descent closes the loop in the park. Now you face the uphill bank, remembering the exploits of cyclists of the past, or those who have become great on these roads, like the home champion Paolo Savoldelli.

Just before going back down the hill to the Presolana pass, you go up to the Salto degli Sposi, the place of the legend of a couple of Polish artists, he a musician and she a painter, who in the 19th century gave their love the eternity of a leap into the void. On the horizon you always have him, the inevitable Pizzo Camino.

The pleasantly unpaved and slightly downhill road takes you to the meadows of Castello Orsetto, at the foot of the ski slopes of the Mount Pora area. From here the road takes you back to Dorga and descends again towards Clusone, the Tour's destination.