As the pandemic made traveling hard, i had to re-arrange my holidays, so i choose to stay in Northern Italy and i went to Südtirol (called Alto Adige in italian), in probably the most beautiful valley you can find in the region; Val Venosta is one of the biggest here, and it comes down both from Austrian/Switzerland alps, and the Ortler-Cevedale group, that include several mountains high more than 3.000m. There i spent 5 marvelous days walking, driving and shooting anything i saw, in a crazy weather that change from a warm, early autumn sun, to an incredible snow-storm during the last night, so if you never been here, enjoy the tour, and comes to visit it as soon as you can.
My first and most important goal was to climb the famous "Passo dello Stelvio" (Stilfser Joch in german), with my old Kia Rio that runs for the 250.000km in 15 years, so after the first day filled with the travel and a short visit to Meran, on my second day i went here. Stelvio is the second-highest road pass on alps, but is arguably the hardest to climb, and the most scenic, so a lot of people comes every year by car, motorcycle or bike, because is a real challenge and the view is stunning from the top. I took a lot of photo here, but since is one of the most popular places on alps i didn't want to include some "classic" photo of it here (search google and you know what i mean).
One of funny things you can do in this valley it's crossing 2 boards in few kilometers. Through the Stelvio Pass you can descend in Switzerland and then come back in Italy in less than an hour. By Resia Pass, on the north of the valley, you can be in Austria in 50 minutes, so i didn't lost the chance and i cross both.
Near the Resia Pass you can find the homonymous Lake, famous for its submerged bell tower. The valley offers anything you want to see, from autumn colors on trees, to historic tiny villages, connected by a diesel train; obviously no one had to tell me to make some shoot in the train station.
The place where i stayed it's called Solda (Sulden). This really small village, at and altitude of 1.900m above sea, is surrounded by high mountains that ends in a glacier. While populated only by 20 people, it's a great vacation site, both in summer and in winter, for its walking paths and ski runs.
During all the days i spent here, i always found good weather, perfect for driving and walking. The last night some snowflakes drop down and it was really cool, since it's not so common in this period of the year. But nothing foresaw what i found on the last morning. About 15cm of snow covered the little valley where i was, and i loved so much that i changed my plan about the last day to spend almost 2 hours shooting at this white present i received. I was really lucky, i have do admit, and i tried to make as photo as i could. My holidays finished, but I'm not sad, because i saw everything i could imagine, and i do a lot of stuff, so I'm totally satisfied, ready for the next trip!
