Western Alps
Sommeiller, Jafferau, the Assietta

Three days in the Val di Susa, in the shadow of the peaks above Bardonecchia and Sestriere. This is one of the great off-road corners of the Italian Alps, and largely unridden compared to the postcard passes further east: Colle del Sommeiller, a rideable track that tops out just under 3,000 metres, the ruined military fort at Jafferau, and the Strada dell'Assietta, a 30km ridge road built for artillery mules that has become one of the best gravel routes in Europe. Base camp was Camping Grand Bosco, down in the trees at Salbertrand, a good reset before climbing back above the treeline each morning.

Colle del Sommeiller

The Sommeiller track climbs out of the valley in long gravel switchbacks before the trees give out and the terrain turns to scree and glacial moraine. It is one of the highest rideable tracks in the Alps, and the last few hundred metres to the old glacier plateau are loose and exposed, so it's slow, deliberate riding rather than anything fast. The payoff is a 360° wall of snow-capped peaks with almost no one else up there.

Colle del Sommeiller · approx. 2,993m

Forte di Jafferau

Above Bardonecchia, a military road switchbacks up to the ruins of Forte Jafferau, built into the ridge as part of Italy's old Alpine border defences. The fort itself is mostly rubble now, but the access road is a proper piece of riding, and the ridge it sits on opens up a clean view straight down into the Bardonecchia valley and across to the peaks on the French side.

Forte Jafferau ridge and the Val di Susa peaks beyond

Strada dell'Assietta

The Assietta is the centrepiece. Thirty-odd kilometres of ridge-top gravel road, built over a century ago to move troops and artillery along the border, now closed to cars on weekends and effectively handed over to bikes. It stays above 2,400m for almost its entire length: no trees, no barriers, just the road along the spine of the ridge with the Alps falling away on both sides. Every rider we crossed paths with up there was grinning under their helmet.

Strada dell'Assietta · roughly 30km along the ridge