July’22 Italian Alps summer tour

The 2022 Summer trip was designed to escape the city heat wave to enjoy the Italian/French Alps coolness, amazing roads and views.

We divided the trip over 3 days with a 60/40 off road/tarmac.

The bikes were a 1983 BMW r65, Triumph Tiger 995i, and a Yamaha Tenere 700 Rally.

Day 1. We left Turin heading to Meana di Susa, pointing to Colle delle Finestre el. 2178m first mountain pass and first gravel road of the tour. Reached the peak we headed down to Strada dell’Assietta 34 km long dirt road connecting Sestriere and Colle delle Finestre, running entirely above 2000 metres and open only between June and October.

Day one ended up with big smiles in San Sicario after 80 km of rain, fog, sunshine, dirt and mud.

Day 2 was thought to enjoy the majestic sceneries of the Alps and itineraries were chosen entirely on asphalt. Briancon, Col de Vars, Barcellonette, Col de la Bonnette, Isola 2000 with a finish in Vinadio and its termal waters after 220 km.

Col de la Bonnette el. 2715 m. is considered the highest paved road in Europe thanks to 2 km long loop around its peak it reaches 2802 m.

Day 3 was a good mix of off-road and asphalt from Vinadio up to Limone Piemonte and down to the famous Via del sale e colle Tenda to Monesi trough the Colle di Nava and Genova as final destination.

La via del sale is an ancient route which twist and turns among Piedmont, France and Liguria where tradesmen once used to carry salt from the coast to the interland, there are now many different paths based on the rider experience and tour lenth.