There are places where the mountain merges with memory, and every hairpin bend seems to tell stories of men, stones and silences. The landscape around Passo Falzarego is one of them: an open-air museum of the Great War. With an easy loop hike we reach the summit of the panoramic Lagazuoi, then descend and set off on a long circular traverse that brings us back to Passo Falzarego, passing first beneath the Tofana di Rodes. Along the way we can choose to add two fine via ferratas that run parallel to the normal path, which makes it ideal for mixed groups.
We start from Passo Falzarego, a historic and natural crossroads set between the Averau and the Lagazuoi. Our first goal is the Lagazuoi, visible 600 metres above us at the top station of the cable car that leaves from the pass. To get there we have 4 options:
- By cable car. Website. Too easy
- By the classic path, following the zigzag eastwards and then up a wide zigzag path that cuts across the ski run.
- By the Kaiserjägersteig: for those with a head for heights, the Kaiserjägersteig is a protected but non-technical path, with a few exposed sections and a suspension bridge. Best avoided in the rain.
- By the Galleria Lagazuoi (recommended, shown on the map), a historic Great War route almost entirely inside the mountain, climbing 300 vertical metres through a tangle of tunnels, all of them stepped (and now fitted with a steel cable). Every so often a small window opens in the gallery onto a little lookout balcony, or a ledge leading to other tunnels and positions. A head torch and shoes with good grip are useful, but otherwise it is within the reach of any reasonably experienced hiker. A via ferrata kit is not strictly necessary (grade A). At the end of the entertaining staircase inside the mountain you emerge onto a hiking ledge (there is a cable), 10 metres from the cable car's top station. (More info here)
From the Lagazuoi terrace there is a spectacular view of the Averau, 5 Torri and the Tofana di Rodes, one of the most spectacular views in the Dolomites.
From here we can descend by one of the alternative routes, or make a loop on a fine plateau path overlooking the deep trench of the Val Travenanzes, which takes us almost to the foot of the Tofana di Rodes, near the Forcella Col dei Bos. From there we come down off the plateau on a broad track of hairpin bends, then turn back towards Passo Falzarego, which we reach after a few ups and downs through a landscape of fallen boulders and small fir woods.
Variant: the Ferrata degli Alpini on the Col dei Bos
Via ferrata enthusiasts can add the Via Ferrata degli Alpini to this itinerary. It requires a full via ferrata kit and good familiarity with the technique, with just one C/D move and a C wall at the start, then it gets easier. Full route card here.
In this case it is better to reverse the direction of the hike: climb the Ferrata degli Alpini and descend from the Lagazuoi through the Galleria Lagazuoi (spectacular but somewhat awkward on the way down) or by the easier path.
