Campolongo is the quiet pass in a family of loud ones. At 1,875 metres it links Corvara in Alta Badia with Arabba and the upper valley of Livinallongo, and on the Sella Ronda it is the stretch that most riders ride without thinking, between the more famous climbs of Pordoi and Gardena. That undersells it. The road winds up through pasture and scattered spruce from Corvara with a long, relaxed run of hairpins, and from the top the whole of the Sella massif stands over you, a pale, castellated block of limestone that looks as if it was built rather than eroded.
The Dolomites were once the floor of a warm tropical sea, and the rock shows it: pale dolomite and limestone, formed from corals and shells, lifted and carved into pinnacles that glow pink and orange at sunset, the famous enrosadira. UNESCO listed the range in 2009. The valleys here are Ladin-speaking, with a language of their own that is neither Italian nor German, and you will see bilingual or even trilingual signs. Corvara and Arabba are ski towns first, so in summer they are slightly sleepy, with cable cars carrying walkers and bikers up the slopes.
The area has a harder history as well. In the First World War the front between Austria and Italy ran right through these mountains, and the nearby Col di Lana, close to Arabba, was the site of a famous mine explosion in 1916 that blew the summit apart. Old trenches, tunnels and rusting wire still scar the ridges, and open-air museums trace some of them.
The riding is superb but the weather deserves attention, since afternoon thunderstorms in summer build quickly over the Sella and can leave the road greasy. Start early. The pass is usually open from late spring to autumn, though snow can close it outside that window. Traffic, particularly on weekends, can be heavy with cars, cyclists, and other motorcyclists, and the speed limits are watched. A mountain hut near the summit usually serves coffee and strudel, and that alone justifies a pause.