I've been riding some of the high passes and mountain roads of northeast
Italy, and now I've got some questions about them:

(a) I've ridden several of the obvious passes over major roads in the
Dolomites, but I notice the map has lots of other smaller roads (unpaved?)
over other passes close by.
Which of those are especially interesting?
Sergio mentioned "Prato Piazza" -- Are there others I should add to my list?
Which ones are not worth trying?

(b) riding from Spondinig/Spondigna to Meran/Merano: I've always avoided
riding this because I didn't like the looks of it from driving the road
several times. Seemed like lots of high-speed vehicle traffic going between
the Reschenpass / Passi di Resia to Meran + Bozen. And a fair number of
curves on a road not wide.
What your experience? Are there ways to avoid most of the distance on the
main road?
Or is riding mostly on the main road not as bad as I'm imagining?

(c) riding from Meran to Bozen: There might be several ways to do this. (1)
I've heard there's a bike path; (2) over Gampenjoch / Passo Palade and
Mendel pass / Mendola high on the west side; (3) lower roads on the west
side; (4) roads thru the hills on the east side. Any thoughts on which ones
are more pretty and interesting, or which ones to avoid?

(d) Passo San Pellegrino and Passo di Rolle (somewhat south of Canazei): It
looks like there's some different options for riding thru or around the
What's prettier and more interesting?

farther east:
(e) Passo di Monte Croce Carnico (or Ploeckenpass) (1360m) is northeast from
Monte Zoncolan on the Italy / Austria frontier: I think the Giro d'Italia
has ridden over it twice, but what's it like with the road open for normal
vehicle traffic?

(f) even further east (getting toward Slovenia), do some of the mountains
still have pointy peaks and sharp ridges like in the Dolomites (at least
somewhat)? Or are the summits all more rounded and moderate? Or are there
other things about the terrain that might make it worthwhile to continue
riding east across Italy (perhaps with some crossings thru Austria?) to
reach like say Kranskja Gora in Slovenia? what about riding over passes in
Slovenia?

(g) Or would it be more interesting to ride more south to finish say in
Trieste?

farther west:
(h) west from Stelvio and Mortirolo and Tirano is Passo di San Marco
(1985m) -- anybody tried that?

Thanks for the help and ideas,

Ken