Montespluga is a handful of buildings by a reservoir at about 1,900 metres, just below the Splügen Pass on the Italian side, and it feels like the end of the road, even though the road goes on. The village is at the head of the Valle Spluga, and it sits beside the dark blue water of Lake Montespluga, a long reservoir that was dammed in the twentieth century to generate electricity, and which covered part of the old village. The mountains rise from the shore in bare slopes of grey rock and tussock grass, and in the evening the light on the water is clear and cold.
The place has a small number of permanent residents, and most of its buildings are hotels, restaurants and holiday houses, many of them closed in winter. The road to the village, the SS36 from Campodolcino, is one of the great motorcycle roads of the Italian Alps, with a series of hairpins that wind up the side of the valley in tight stacks. Traffic is mostly light, with a surge at weekends in summer, and the surface is generally decent, with a few rough patches where frost and meltwater have worked on it. There are tunnels and galleries along the way, some of them dark and wet.
The history of the Valle Spluga is a history of crossing. The pass above has carried travellers for centuries, and the modern road is a successor to the mule track and the carriage road built in the nineteenth century. In summer, shepherds still bring flocks of sheep and goats to the high pastures, and cheeses made in the huts can be bought at the village or at small farm stalls along the road. The reservoir itself is popular with anglers, and the shore offers a gentle path for walks, with views of the dam, the road and the peaks.
The air is thin, and the weather can change in minutes. Mist rolls over the reservoir, the temperature drops, and a shower of rain or sleet can arrive from nowhere, even in July. Dress warmly and keep your visor clear. In September the larches on the lower slopes turn gold, and the first snow often dusts the tops by October, when the road is about to close.
There are a couple of restaurants and bars in Montespluga that serve hot food, polenta, pizzoccheri and local cheese, and they are welcome after a cold ride. Campodolcino, about ten kilometres down the valley, has limited services, and Chiavenna, about nineteen kilometres further, is the nearest large town with several stations.