The Falzarego Pass ( it, Passo di Falzarego, lld, Jou de Fauzare) (el. 2,105 m) is a high

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

in the province of

Belluno Belluno (; lld, Belum; vec, Belùn) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. It mainly connects the territory of

Agordo Agordo ( Local Ladin: ''Agort'', Ladin: ''Ègort'', Austrian German: ''Augarten'') is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) sited in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region in Italy. It is located about north of Venice and about northwest ...

and

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; lld, Anpezo, ; historical de-AT, Hayden) is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite river, in an alp ...

. From the pass, starts also SP24 (Strada provinciale del Passo di Valparola) directed northbound to

Val Badia The Val Badia ( en, Badia Valley, Ladin: ''Val Badia''; it, Val Badia; german: Gadertal) is the valley of the Gran Ega river in South Tyrol, Italy. It stretches from the Sella massif northwards to the Puster Valley. The villages in the Val Badia, ...

passing below

Sas de Stria SAS or Sas may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * SAS (novel series), ''SAS'' (novel series), a French book series by Gérard de Villiers * ''Shimmer and Shine'', an American animated children's television series * Southern All Stars, ...

and through

Valparola Pass The Valparola Pass ( it, Passo di Valparola) (el. 2,168 m, in Ladin : "Ju de Valparola") is a high mountain pass in the Dolomites in the province of Belluno in Italy. The pass lies a little west of Falzarego Pass. The hut "Rifugio Passo ...

. A gondola rises to the

Lagazuoi Lagazuoi is a mountain in the Dolomites of northern Italy, lying at an elevation of , about southwest by road from Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Veneto Region. The mountain is part of the "Natural Park of the Ampezzo Dolomites". It is accessible by c ...

(2,762 m), which was the object of heavy combat and

mine warfare Mine warfare refers to the use of different types of explosive devices: *Land mine, a weight-triggered explosive device intended to maim or kill people or to disable or destroy vehicles *Minelaying, deployment of explosive mines at sea **Naval mine ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The tunnel that the Italians built under the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

lines is open to the public.

Etymology

The name probably derives from

Ladin Ladin may refer to: * Ladin language, a language in northern Italy, often classified as a Rhaeto-Romance language *Ladin people, the inhabitants of the Dolomite Alps region of northern Italy See also *Laden (disambiguation) * Ladino (disambigua ...

''fóuze'', scythe. A popular

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

claims that it supposedly comes instead from ''Faúza Règo'', which would mean ''false king'' in

, but is not attested in this form in the language. It would refer to the king of the Fanes, who was supposedly turned to stone for betraying his people.

Sports

The pass is occasionally in the program of the Giro d'Italia race. The Falzarego Pass is one of the Dolomites mountain passes riders cross in the annual

Maratona dles Dolomites The Maratona dles Dolomites (Ladin for "Dolomites Marathon"; it, Maratona delle Dolomiti), is an annual single-day road bicycle race covering seven mountain passes in the Dolomites. Open to amateur cyclists, the Maratona—with 9,000 riders ...

single-day

bicycle race "Bicycle Race" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was released on their 1978 album ''Jazz'' and written by Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury. It was released as a double A-side single together with the song "Fat Bottomed Girls", rea ...

. As riders proceed directly from the Falzarego Pass to the higher

the Falzarego is not counted as one of the canonical seven Maratona passes.

References

Falzarego Geography of Cortina d'Ampezzo Giro d'Italia {{Veneto-geo-stub