Gavia Pass

The Gavia Pass (Passo di Gavia) is the road over the mountains between Santa Caterina Valfurva, above Bormio in Valtellina, and Ponte di Legno in Val Camonica, on state road SS300 in Lombardy, Italy. The Bormio tourism board gives the summit as 2,621 m, and the steepest grades reach 16%.

The Bormio tourism board describes tight bends, hairpins, steep grades and a carriageway that drops to a single lane in places. It is one of the great Giro d'Italia climbs: the race has crossed it fourteen times, and a stage raced over the top in a sudden snowstorm is one of the Giro's best known days.

Merchant caravans from the Republic of Venice crossed here from the Middle Ages, and so many died in winter avalanches that it was also called the Pass of the Dead Man's Head (Passo della Testa di Morto). The track was widened during the First World War and fully paved in the second half of the 20th century.

• The climb starts at Santa Caterina Valfurva and rises on steep grades to the top, where Lago Bianco sits beside the road and a mountain hut (rifugio) stands at the pass.
• Over the top towards Val Camonica the road drops through three hairpins and an unlit tunnel, then passes a monument to Alpine soldiers killed when their truck left the road.
• The next 10 km are too narrow for two cars to pass each other, down to Sant'Apollonia, where the road widens for the run to Ponte di Legno.
• Cyclists, motorcyclists and cars share the road.
• Best way to experience it: drive or ride it yourself in your own car or a hire car or on a motorbike, or join one of the guided tours that run on it.

• The Gavia is open in summer only, usually from early June to mid or late October, with dates set by snow and weather. ANAS has closed it for this winter.
• Buses, campervans and caravans, and vehicles over 3.5 t are banned from the pass.
• In the Province of Sondrio, chains on board or winter tyres are compulsory from 15 October to 30 April.
• Cycling events have closed the pass to cars for part of a summer day.
• In summer a bus runs from Santa Caterina Valfurva to the pass.

• Last verified: 3 November 2026
• Official link: https://ktips.bormio.eu/en/importazioni/pois/gavia-pass