Alto Adige (Suedtirol), Italy, With A Gang of Friends

Now, as winter is so long and snow falls down as there would be no tomorrow, it is highly time to follow up some tours from this year's motorcycle season!

The place to inspect was the area of northern Italy which, since the olds remember, doesn’t want to belong to Italy, but still does anyway. Some call the place “Alto Adige”, others call it “Suedtirol”, again others just call it “Motorcyclist’s Paradise”. It’s not about politics in this report, actually it’s not even a ride report but much more a brief overview about the history of origins of one of the loveliest places for motorcyclists I know.



How ever one might call the place … All do know: This is the place where milk and honey flows. This is the spot on earth which God, the creator, did spoil so much with beauty, that arriving in this region’s heart indeed feels like arriving at the place one for ever wants to remain, never want to leave anymore. Lakes, embedded between vineyards and rivers. The smell of grapes mixes with the perfume of millions of blooming flowers and the flavor of untouched forests.

And this is how it all came:
As, after creating all this beauty, God was very much scared that the place soon might be discovered by awkward, rude and reckless human. He was quick with the decision to cover the place as good as ever possible, immediately started to build some huge piles of rock in the north, and called them “The Alps” at the opening party.

Though the rocks was very steep and rough and though they was covered by a dangerous white and thick layer of ice which indeed worked as a trap for many, it soon turned out that it might not be enough shelter and protection for Alto Adige. Well, the place was just too beautiful and way too much temptation emitting.


So he decided to again stretch the Alps further from the North, in a long bow to the Southwest. This effort ended up in a spectacular, impressive and scary barrier made of rocks and ice from all the North to the west of Alto Adige. The Place now was covered and everybody felt quite happy, as at the same time this barrier kept away bad weather influence coming from the northern seas, all across the continent.


As a result, the place developed brilliant and did very much profit from this sanction. But this, of course, did make it even more attractive to any kind of enemy. So God decided one day again, to take another, last attempt to cover the place and keep it as beautiful as it still was at that time. In a huge effort he built even more rough and sharper peaks than before. Hundreds and hundreds of the steepest and most authoritative structures one can imagine, and he placed it right to the east of Alto Adige.The name of this red and awesomely looking shield: “The Dolomites”.

Alto Adige was now covered on tree sides by a zillion of tons of the strongest barrier of rocks, stone, dirt and pure steepness and danger. By the time mankind slowly arose, the place was still in very best condition. People only very slowly populated the area and took very much care to it, wisely farmed land, water and air.


But still after hundreds of thousands of years, the temptation for everybody else was simply to big. Everybody wanted to take at least a little glimpse at what was known as the place of beauty and happyness.


Back in the early years of the 18th Century than, some even brave and likewise strong men started to build a path over the rocks. It was used for generations and it took very, very long until it finally got extended to a path in modern style….

…to be used with modern vehicles.

Anyway, it still was not very easy to undertake the journey down to Alto Adige, the land where children say “Pizza” and “red wine” long before the say Mom and Dad and the land, which offers more twisties than all the rest of the whole Eurasian landmass.

To ensure that everybody who’s willing and powerful enough to do the journey will find the right way, people placed markers on the most important spots of the way southbound. Some of markers ended up as less…

… others as much more famous:

How ever: There’s three clear signs to recognise people who managed to find their way down to Alto Adige: It’s the light in their eyes…

…their excitement …

… and their bliss having done it finally.

More and more, small groups of brave and presistant young men and woman try to get over these mountains today. It’s just the same undertaking as the prospectors took back in the 1800’s when they climbed Chilkood pass by feet to get up to the Yukon. Only not gold is tempting nowaday's prospectors, but pure freedom for bunch of, a bit of sun long before the rest of the continent gets it, crystal clear lakes, ruby red wine and endless twisties, that is what they are grasping at.

Lots of tears have been shed so far. Tears of pain, doubts and fail, but also tears of pleasure, felicity and pride. Many in the meantime have done it ….

….and it’s only a question of time who’ll be next!

Have a seat and a breath, you might want to think about it first.