Some people face it going uphill and soon realize that it was actually made to go down. Because you feel tired just by looking at it. It's a 4444-step gray limestone stairway, on whose side is a hollow that was used to send down to the river Brenta the logs to build Venice's ships, the Serenissima. It is a masterpiece of rock carving for human traffic use, nestled in a wild environment. The Calà del Sasso is the hardest and most secret gateway to the Plateau. The entrance at the top is next to the hamlet of Sasso di Asiago, the bottom one is not far from the church of Valstagna.
It was built at the end of the fourteenth century, when the Vicenza area was in the hands of Gian Galeazzo Visconti and the municipalities of the Plateau were already fighting. Foza imposed a toll for those who wanted to go down to the valley with their goods, Gallio then built a road along the Frenzela valley, and Asiago, not to be outdone, invented the Calà. Devastated by the 1966 flood, it was restored at the beginning of the millennium, but because it is nestled in the mountains, it is exposed to snow, rain, and the forest that wants it back. It goes up (or down) by 709 meters. Be most careful in the winter or after a storm: the stone is slippery and treacherous. Therefore, watch the steps...
It is a river of stones, said the writer-walker Paolo Rumiz after climbing it and carefully measuring the steps, all "with fifty centimetres in depth and fifteen in height". He used to travel to see Mario Rigoni Stern in Asiago and once he did it on foot, along the ancient road surrounded by beech woods, moss and ferns.
Go on foot and wear comfortable boots suitable for slippery ground