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surface becomes regular and the road starts to
climb in a series of tight hairpin bends. The
regular gradient, always around 7%, ensures
quick altitude gain, but there are also some
harder stretches where the gradient reaches
12%. Even worse, there is a strong side wind
for the last kilometre. Descending is easier,
with terrific vistas all the way down into the
Val Tremolo, but the feeling of “trembling”
on the paved surface is much stronger. The
granite-paved road is a perfectly preserved
architectural masterpiece. It is considered
Switzerland’s longest historical road
monument.

Caseificio del Gottardo – Cheese of St.
Gothard. Of course, this story would not be
sinuously up to 2091 metres in tight coils. complete without a visit to the world renowned
Walking the road is challenging. After two fromagerie, Caseificio des Gottardo. Not only
kilometres, the first paved section begins, but is cheese yet another national Swiss symbol,
the most spectacular (and hardest) section St. Gothard cheese is particularly important
only starts after 5 kilometres, when the paved given this place’s historical significance. Of
course, there are several
types of cheese produced at
the Caseificio. The main four:
Tremola, Lucendro, Rustico
and Airolo can be found in
their boutique, as can the
very rare and much-valued
Piora.

When we visited St. Gotthard,
cheese was one of our main
purposes, as cheese also
reflects the history of this
location. After a delicious
cheese fondue in this special
place we were privileged to
take part in the full process of
cheese-making. In one day,
with the help of specialists,
we succeeded in producing
our own Gottardo cheese
to be marked with our own
stamp. We left our 4kg head

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