45°52′58″N | 9°14′36″E
The Wall Sormano entered the path of the Tour of Lombardy in 1960, when the patron Vincenzo Torriani, wanting to make more selective the race, decided to add this new climb, short but very strong from the slopes (2.4 km, with peaks of 24%) After the traditional passing on the Ghisallo and before arrival at Como.
The desired effect was achieved even beyond expectations: the ascent proved so tough that many professionals were forced to get off the bike and walk.
The Wall Sormano remained in the race track for three editions, until 1962 in that year Ercole Baldini established the primacy of the rise in 9'24 ". Then it was decided not to tackle this climb more extreme, even because the race was distorted by the many pressures that the runners received by viewers.
After the construction of new road, wider and more affordable from the slopes, the road of the Wall was abandoned even by vehicular traffic and has fallen into disuse. After a few decades, however, some cycling enthusiasts have promoted the recovery and in 2006 replaced the old flooring is now ruined with a new coat of asphalt, the Wall was opened again and again made available for cyclists.
The prevailing character of the "Wall of Sormano" is its slope. It is not simply a given topography: it is what the represents the imagination of the population, what qualifies it in a certain area that recognizes it, after three-year entry in the Tour of Lombardy, as one of the most difficult tracks ever, even if with its short history. Paradoxically its duration and failure are transitory, conductors proved phenomenal collective memory, creating a kind of myth impossible if it is true that very few runners, although professional, were able the enterprise to reach the summit of the saddle Wall.
It is important to note, however, that the sporting is not the only key to the strong which characterizes the slope is percorso. Indeed, in that range of altitude where the mountain undergoes a change of scenery radical. According to these principles is developed plan for its redevelopment of the "wall" as a kind of narrative of a landscape that change, always read through the lens of this his character - the slope - which becomes more half through, but it overlaps with this operation.
Inserts in the graphs pavement are placed every meter of altitude, in so that the increase and the decrease slope can be read, as well as directly with the fatigue, indirectly by compression or thinning of these elements (for slopes around 10% every 10 meters, for slopes of 20% per 5m and so on). These elements costituscono the trait d'union intervention because there are a number of density on the entire journey. You an opportunity to tell the landscape we encounter.
Selected in the 5th European Landscape Biennial, Barcelona.
Sources:
http://www.ifdesign.it
