Gardena Pass joins two Ladin valleys: Val Gardena on the north side, with Selva and Ortisei, and Alta Badia on the south, around Corvara. At roughly 2,100 metres it is one of the four passes that circle the Sella massif, and the road runs between the great rock walls of the Sassolungo and the Sella, with their pale dolomite faces that glow pink at sunset.
The riding is good: smooth tarmac, well-engineered bends and a gradient that never gets nasty. From the north the road climbs out of Selva in a series of broad hairpins, passing hotels, ski lifts and small chapels, and from the south it drops away through meadows towards Corvara. It is a busy road, especially in July and August, when cars, camper vans, coaches, cyclists and other bikes share the same ribbon. The best time is early morning or late afternoon, when the crowds thin and the light turns the rock to colour.
The Dolomites were once the floor of a tropical sea, and the white rock you see is the remains of ancient coral reefs, lifted and carved by ice. The peaks were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009. The people of these valleys speak Ladin, a Romance language descended from Latin and unrelated to Italian or German, and you will see bilingual signs in three languages. Food is a mix of Tyrolean and Italian: speck, dumplings, polenta, and apple strudel, served in mountain huts with long wooden tables and a dizzying view.
Passes in the Dolomites sometimes have restrictions on motor traffic for a morning or two in the summer to give cyclists some peace, so check local notices if you arrive on a quiet weekday. The pass is normally closed in winter by snow, though the main roads are cleared quite early in spring.