Every year in September, for one day the Mendola Road is closed to motorised traffic and cyclists can move freely
Image gallery: Mendola Pass Cycle Day
Every year around the beginning of autumn, the historic Mendola Road is dedicated to cyclists for a whole day: on the occasion of the European Mobility Week the section between Pianizza di Sopra in Caldaro and the pass height at 1,362 m a.s.l. is closed to motorised traffic from 9 am to 4.30 pm and the bendy road is completely reserved for mountain bikers, cyclists and hikers.
The European Mobility Week, an initiative of the Climate Alliance of European Cities, is supported by the European Union and deals every year with a different aspect. The Mendola Pass Cycle Day is organised by the environmental group of Caldaro and Appiano and the two communities which support the Climate Alliance - Caldaro and Appiano - as well as by the South Tyrolean Organisation for Nature Conservation and Environmental Protection.
The first Mendola Pass Cycle Day (Autofreier Radtag auf die Mendel, in German) was held in 2007 and is nowadays an important event in the sense of Green Mobility which attracts every year thousands of participants. Refreshment areas along the road take care of the cyclists' physical well-being. The parking spaces of Appiano and Caldaro and some reserved places in Pianizza di Sopra (Oberplanitzing) are available, soap boxes are explicitly forbidden!
