Twentieth stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023: from Tarvisio to Monte Lussari

Near the destination, we reach the penultimate stage of the Giro d'Italia 2023, starting from Tarvisio, a fairytale village located on the border between Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Austria and Slovenia.

When you arrive in Tarvisio, you are greeted by a postcard landscape, surrounded by the Julian Alps and an ancient forest, with its houses with sloping roofs that blend perfectly with the surrounding nature.

The Tarvisio forest, with its 24,000 hectares, is the largest state forest in Italy, its first historical information dates back to 1006, when Enrico II the Holy, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire granted the Bishopric of Bamberga the Val Canale, where the Municipality is located.

The vast and lush region offers visitors a myriad of activities to do in spring and summer: walks on the marked trails, hiking to the highest peaks, many cycle paths, and in the clear waters of Lake Predil you can swim, rent rowing boats, canoes and pedal boats.

A perfect destination for ski enthusiasts, it offers 24 kilometres of downhill slopes and 55 kilometres of cross-country slopes in winter, with circuits for adults and children marked for different difficulties, as well as a snowboarding track, where keen snowboarders can have fun on the numerous rails.

A few minutes from Tarvisio is the Cave del Predil Museum, which brings together three different museums: The International Geomineral Park, a former Raibl mine, closed in '91 and partly accessible via an electric train, the Mining LAB, dedicated to the mining tradition, and the Military History Museum, which documents events from the Napoleonic campaigns until the Second World War.

The gastronomy and wine tradition of Tarvisio is a meeting of cultures and customs of three different nationalities: the dishes combine the influences of the borderlands, transforming them into dishes with unique flavours, prepared with raw ingredients of the highest quality.

After a very steep climb of 7.5 kilometres, the racers will reach the Sanctuary of Monte Lussari, a renowned pilgrimage destination that can be reached via the evocative Sentiero del Pellegrino (Pilgrims' path), the path from the valley floor up the slopes of the mountain, through the ancient forest and arriving at the village of Lussari, which is the highest village in Friuli Venezia-Giulia, at 1,790 metres. A land of encounters between the Latin, Slavic and Germanic peoples, today it houses the sanctuary, dating back to 1360, which is located in the centre of the small village.

From the village, the view that opens onto the panorama is spectacular, especially towards the mountains of Mangart and Jof di Montasio. From here there are numerous itineraries that lead visitors to explore the surrounding area, such as the one that climbs up to the Cima del Cacciatore (Hunter's peak) at 2,071 metres above sea level.