Guide
The best driving roads in Italy
Italy is the one that has everything. Glacier passes in the north, the Dolomite hairpins, a cliff road along the Amalfi Coast, and then Sardinia and Sicily doing something else entirely. These are the best of the 56 Italian roads we have mapped, icons first, from the 2,757 m Stelvio Pass down. Every one is traced from real road geometry and fact-checked.
Narrower cuts of the same question: the Dolomites on their own.
Orientale Sarda27 mi · 57 min · 1,028.7 m summitView the roadbook ›
Why it makes the list
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1
27 mi57 min
Orientale Sarda
Often called the best driving road in the world, 50 km through the limestone Supramonte above the Gulf of Orosei on near-perfect asphalt, over a succession of named mountain passes.
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2
28 mi1 h 6 minStelvio Pass
The cathedral of mountain passes, 48 stacked hairpins to a 2,757 m sky.
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3
9 mi21 minPasso Sella
A Dolomites pass beneath the sheer Sella massif.
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4
8 mi16 minPasso Pordoi
Flowing Dolomite hairpins on the legendary Great Dolomites Road.
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5
27 mi1 h 7 minPasso di Gavia
A wild, narrow, high pass for the brave, barely two cars wide near the top.
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6
12 mi26 minPasso Gardena
Part of the Sella Ronda at 2,121 m, hairpins tightening and releasing under pale Dolomite towers, with snow walls beside the road in spring.
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7
12 mi28 minPasso Giau
A wild, hairpin-stacked Dolomites pass above Cortina.
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8
15 mi32 minGreat St Bernard Pass
The historic Alpine climb of The Italian Job’s opening titles.
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9
7 mi20 minTarga Florio, Collesano Descent
The closing miles of the world’s oldest road race, Collesano to the sea.
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10
23 mi51 minAmalfi Coast
The cliff-hugging Amalfitana above the Tyrrhenian Sea.
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11
17 mi37 minGardesana Occidentale
A tunnel-and-cliff road along the west shore of Lake Garda.
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12
19 mi40 minPasso Brocon
Scenic Lagorai pass of hairpins from Castello Tesino toward the Vanoi valley.
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13
3 mi7 minPasso Croce d'Aune
Belluno climb from Pedavena famous as the birthplace of the quick-release skewer.
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14
14 mi26 minPasso di Lavazè
Forested plateau pass linking Val di Fiemme and Val d’Ega beneath the Latemar.
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15
23 mi42 minPasso Monte Croce di Comelico
The Kreuzbergpass at 1636 m, a well-graded SS52 saddle between the Sesto Dolomites and the Carnic Alps, linking San Candido to Santo Stefano di Cadore.
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16
13 mi27 minPasso della Mendola (Mendel Pass)
Historic 17-hairpin wine-road climb from Caldaro up to the Mendel ridge.
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17
8 mi18 minPasso di Pramollo
The Italian side of the Nassfeldpass, a steep, demanding 1530 m climb from Pontebba up through tight hairpins to the Austrian border in the Carnic Alps.
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18
9 mi17 minForcola di Livigno
A 2315 m border pass linking Livigno to the Bernina, long straights through a craggy glacier-rimmed valley.
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19
7 mi17 minPasso del Maniva
The Giogo del Maniva at 1664 m, the celebrated Brescia hairpin road on the SP345 delle Tre Valli, climbing from Collio in the Val Trompia.
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20
3 mi8 minPasso di Stalle (Staller Sattel)
Single-lane Italy-Austria pass with light-controlled one-way traffic above Anterselva.
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21
12 mi24 minPasso Valles
A quiet WWI supply road over a 2032 m saddle below the Pale di San Martino, linking Paneveggio in Trentino to Falcade in the Veneto.
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22
25 mi52 minPenser Joch (Passo Pennes)
Long high South Tyrol pass on the most direct Bolzano to Sterzing road.
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23
16 mi34 minPasso Cibiana
A winding southern-Dolomite pass at 1530 m crowned by Fort Monte Rite and Reinhold Messner’s mountain museum, linking the Zoldo and Cadore valleys.
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24
7 mi12 minColle del Sestriere
A wide, fast Piedmontese climb to the chocolate-box ski resort of Sestriere, woven into Tour and Giro folklore.
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25
7 mi13 minPasso San Pellegrino
A flowing, fully paved Dolomite pass between Moena and Falcade, topping out at 1918 m beside the Trevalli ski area with the Costabella and Cima Uomo walls overhead.
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26
14 mi28 minForcella Staulanza
A scenic Dolomite pass at 1766 m wedged between Monte Pelmo and the Civetta massif, on the SP251 between the Zoldo and Cadore valleys.
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27
8 mi16 minPasso della Presolana
Every Bergamo rider knows this one: curves and long straights over the 1,297 m saddle between the Presolana massif and Monte Scanapa.
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28
18 mi39 minPasso San Marco
An old salt road over the Orobie Alps, quiet and high.
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29
10 mi20 minPasso del Foscagno
The high pass guarding the duty-free enclave of Livigno.
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30
26 mi1 h 1 minPasso di Croce Domini
Narrow high pass linking three Brescian valleys in the Adamello foothills.
Common questions
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