Strada della Forra

The Strada della Forra — the "road of the gorge" — climbs from the shore of Lake Garda to the high plateau of Tremosine in a little over six kilometres, and few roads anywhere pack so much drama into so short a distance. It begins at Porto di Tremosine on the western shore, clings at first to the cliffs high above the water with wide views across the lake, and then turns into the gorge carved by the Brasa torrent, where it squeezes between rock walls through a sequence of tunnels, tight bends and ledges cut into the stone, before emerging at the village of Pieve on the plateau.

The road was completed in 1913 to replace the steep path that until then was the only link between the little port and the villages of the Tremosine uplands. Its audacity was admired from the start: a German newspaper of the time hailed it as the most beautiful road in the world, and Winston Churchill, visiting later, called it the eighth wonder of the world. In 2008 it reached a far wider audience as the setting of a car chase in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace.

What makes the drive memorable is the way the scenery changes from moment to moment: the open lake glittering below, then the dim ravine between walls of rock, then the open plateau. The road is very narrow, so it is best taken slowly — by car, motorbike or bicycle — with time to stop where the rock allows. It can be continued beyond Pieve for another six kilometres or so towards Vesio and the other hamlets of Tremosine.

Getting there

The road starts on the western shore of Lake Garda, about 2 km from Campione del Garda, off the main lakeside road; Riva del Garda, at the northern tip of the lake, is about 15 km away. The nearest airport is Verona Villafranca (VRN), about 42 km in a straight line. Cyclists should carry front and rear lights for the tunnels.