This night offers perfect conditions. The darkness is joined by fog and cold. Step by step, metre by metre, Juliano Martinetti feels his way through the blind night towards Passo Trela, the highest point of his perilous journey. The path is steep, interspersed with rocks and in places buried under a deep blanket of snow. Juliano is an old hand in the smuggling business. He has been crossing the rugged route between Livigno and Bormio for years, in both summer and winter, knows every rock by heart and has brought tonnes of cigarettes across the border illegally. Nevertheless, fear is always breathing down his neck. Not so much of being caught by Italian customs with his 40-kilo "bricola", a carrier full of cigarette sticks, and ending up in prison. That would be the lesser evil. Don Parente, village priest of Trepalle, former lawyer and smuggler boss in one, would get him out of there. No, it's pure fear of survival that's in Juliano's bones. The fear of breaking a leg and freezing to death, being buried by an avalanche or falling into one of the steep ravines to the left and right of the path and breaking his neck.
Trails around Livigno: away from the bike park hustle and bustle
That was many decades ago. Today it is neither dark nor cold. It's a clear, sunny autumn day, and instead of the heavy Bricola, we're lugging our bikes up the steep trail towards Passo di Val Trela. At the Passo d'Eira, we had left the bike park hustle and bustle behind us to immerse ourselves in the past on the eastern side of the massif. Because today, it's not all about scraping steep bends and hopping over drop batteries. Bike legend Hans Rey, Swiss cross-country pro Ralph Näf, tour guide Patricia Roth and I had arranged to meet up today for a very special bike experience in Livigno.
You can find the entire BIKE article on the smugglers' trails around Livigno as a PDF download below.
