Italy 2025 - Bassano Del Grappa

Charming and quiet little town at the foot of the alps. The big draw is Monte Grappa, a huge mountain with 11 different roads up to the top, some of which have been used in grand tours. It’s cool to see leaderboards for climbing populated with all the big names of the last 10 years of cycling and very humbling to see how much faster they are than you.

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Monte Grappa via Bocca di Forca

The hardest way up the mountain, mainly going through weird and super steep residential streets only wide enough for 1 car. About halfway up it connects back to the “good” road.

This part of Italy has all kinds of pistachio things. Loving it.

This part of Italy still has the iconic church + tower combos in literally every town

Halfway up

After the very steep first half you get a little break around this breathtaking cliff

Some tunnels. These will become a staple of every ride from now on...

My face in front of the cliffs

The top of Grappa is a lush green pasture. These will also become very common on rides in northern Italy.

There's a restaurant at the top with all sorts of tourist stuff and good food. No view today as the fog had surrounded the peak.

Helped this guy with his bike on my way down. He owned a Gelato shop back in town and gave me a free ice cream brioche. What a win.

Descending back to the valley was fun but the heat wave hit me right in the face. Still 35+ at sea level this week...

40km of headwind on side roads next to the river coming back to Bassano.

Active quarry in the valley. This road is epic with huge mountains on both sides.

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Monte Grappa via Semonzo

The way used in the 2024 Giro D’Italia. They did it twice of course and Pogacar’s winning time was over 20 minutes faster than mine. The difference between a top 2% time and a world tour pro is just impossible to understand.

Much nicer weather this time! I actually saw the guys mow the grass on these hills. That's dedication.

There's a war memorial at the peak but bikes aren't allowed : (

Really awesome view from the peak, 1800m up from the city. Some days you can apparently see the sea.

Yes hi, hi.

Going back down there's a little glacial valley with some ruins and hiking trails.

Saw this huge flock of sheep / donkeys being brought to the lake for a drink.

All these alpine plateaus seem to have livestock grazing and making that expensive eurocheese

Snowed overnight apparently. Crazy considering the heat wave at the base.

Going back down to Bassano.

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Vicenza and Castles

Took a rest day on the flat section to the south. Again very terrible riding but you get to see a few cool towns including Vicenza, home of the legendary Campagnolo bike brand.

The church n' clock combo in Rosa

First stop was the town of Citadella. Still has its castle walls + moat combo with an entire town inside.

It's fun to explore inside the castle. There's 4 gates to it.

Most of the riding in the flat south is just industrial zone along the highway. Not great.

Downtown Vicenza

Has a big plazza like all the typical old Italian towns

It's a nice mid-sized town to visit. Get your tourism fill of Italy while skipping crowds.

Spotted this cool castle on a hill while heading back.

There's a huge wall around the city and then an upper castle on top of a 150m climb

Very nice view to end the day in the oven.

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Monte Grappa via Romano D’Ezzelino + Asiago

Huge ride once again going up Monte Grappa then down into the valley on the backside to climb up to the mountain plateau where Asiago is located in all its cheese-making glory.

Lot more actual cyclists riding around Bassano than Mestre.

One last look from the peak of Grappa. I saw them mow the grass, I thought it was just cows doing this.

View down the valley from the backside of Grappa. Lot of trees but you can sometimes get glimpses of the epicness.

You start to see huge exposed cliffs here. These become higher and balder and eventually turn into the Dolomites

The plateau has several charming little towns set on each high point of the ridge

Church in downtown Asiago

The architecture gets progressively more Bavarian / German as you go up north or go up in altitude.

Yah I got some sandwich with the cheese. It was ALRIGHT.

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Costo pass and Loop

Last day here. Was struggling to find a route to do that wasn’t Monte Grappa again. Still too much highway/flat on this loop. Anywhere that isn’t the mountains has been awful riding so far. This loop has an amazing climb back up to Asiago then a descent back into the canyon.

One last goodbye to my sweet Marostica castle

At some point I stopped taking pictures of these. They are starting to blend in.

Really awesome view of the valley from Costo pass

When you're climbing to the plateau or on it you'll see literally dozens of this sign trying to sell you the cheese and ham.

The plateau is so peaceful and scenic. Lot of pastures and the weather is 10c cooler than the furnace at the bottom.

Few really nice bridges connect the different cities on the plateau.

Goodbye Bassano, it was fun!

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