Garda to Develop New Cycling Paths in €500M Veneto Project
The success of the gran fondo held last April 22 and the news of the imminent opening of the school promoted by champion Paola Pezzo in collaboration with the hotel owners’ association make Garda a sort of small capital of mountain biking.
But the lakeside town will soon have new cycling paths as well. With an intervention worth half a billion euros, largely financed by Regione Veneto and supplemented by a multi-year national contribution, two trails will be restored—one towards Torri and the other heading towards Bardolino—available for bicycle enthusiasts.
Details on the cycling routes
“Regione,” says Mayor Giorgio Comencini, “has welcomed our cycling path project positively. The planned works involve two routes, one to the west and the other to the east of the town.”
The first section of Garda’s new cycling paths will start near Villa Carlotti-Canossa and will then ascend Monte Luppia above Punta San Vigilio until reaching the border with Torri del Benaco.
It is a trail of significant naturalistic and scenic interest, entirely immersed in Mediterranean maquis. It reuses an old road, the so-called “via strova,” cited on ancient maps and recently rediscovered thanks to a joint effort between the municipality and the Gardesana section of the Associazione Nazionale Alpini.
The route is largely bordered by dry stone walls and features some sections paved with cobblestones. The second route refurbishes and equips an old municipal path that diverges from the historic center and ascends eastward through the woods of Rocca until reaching, among the forests, the border with Bardolino at an altitude over two hundred meters.
Again, this section crosses territory with considerable naturalistic charm. “The cycling path to be developed,” says Comencini, “traverses the municipal area and is part of a comprehensive network of integrated cycling routes involving also Bardolino and Cavaion Veronese.”
Characteristics and implementation of the paths
The goal is to connect Valdadige with Garda through a network of routes dedicated to bicycles. The project proposal, funded by Regione Veneto, was developed jointly by Garda and Cavaion municipalities, also in agreement with Bardolino.
The planned works mainly concern restructuring existing roadbeds, previously used as roads or mule tracks, now roughly reduced to hiking trails or even overgrown with vegetation.
On the surface, a treatment of the “ecological impregnation” type (as defined by the designers) will be applied, using layers of gravel sourced from local limestones, mixed and consolidated with a modified bitumen emulsion, followed by wetting and rolling.
It will be a suitable surface for bicycles, with very low environmental impact. They will look almost like traditional “white roads.”