Calà del Sasso
How to reach the departure point
Take the Strada Statale Valsugana from Bassano del Grappa to Trento until you reach the traffic lights at Carpanè di San Nazario (circa 13 km).
Turn left at the traffic lights following signs for Valstagna and Foza. Cross the bridge over the Brenta river and at the crossroad with the “Destra Brenta” road from Oliero, turn right and after a few 100 metres in the residential part of Valstagna there is a junction (house in the middle) and the Foza road heads to the left (signs).
Shortly after there is a hairpin bend (go right, do not follow the road which goes straight) leading into the very narrow Val Franzela canyon surrounded by dark, towering rock walls. This takes you to the first hairpin bend where the road, famous for its endless series of frightening curves and hairpin bends carved into the rock, begins to climb steeply and in 11 km, takes you to Foza. Right on the bend is a tiny car park where you can leave your car (about 2 km from the traffic lights in Valsugana) (200 m a.s.l.).
Depart: Lebo in Valstagna (at the second bend of Valstagna-Foza)
Arrive: village of Il Sasso, a hamlet of Asiago, 1000 metres a.s.l. and a descent for the same journey as the outward journey
Walking time: 2-2.3 hours
Difficulty: medium
Recommended period: all year round but better when terrain is dry.
Information: Grotte di Oliero +39 0424 558250
Calà del Sasso is a historic mule track along which the timber cut in the forests of the plateaus above was hauled down to the river and from there, assembled into rafts, and floated downstream to the Venetian lagoon and its arsenal. On foot you take the dirt track that continues along the bottom of the valley gorge and after about 1 kilometre on the left, leaving the valley bottom, the stairway of 4,444 steps rises up, in places wedged into the canyon gorge just several metres wide. After a glut of rock walls, gorges and sheer drops, suddenly you come out onto an idyllic meadow in the middle of a clearing of fir trees.