A Few Good Curves
Bernina Gran Turismo
Words: Isabella Rabensteiner;
Photography: Mike Rabensteiner
20. September 2026
In autumn, when the Bernina changes character from cinematic to almost lunar, the curves between Poschiavo and Pontresina seem to prepare for the return of the Gran Turismo. The pass connects Engadine with Italy’s Val Poschiavo. It reveals breathtaking views of the only 4,000-metre peak in the Eastern Alps: Piz Bernina.
Bernina GT 2026
A Few Good Curves
We have a real soft spot for the Bernina. Most of the time we prefer to take it in red wagons – the old ones, where you can still open the windows and stick your face out into the mountain air, watching the curves unspool below. This particular time, for the 2026 edition of the Bernina Gran Turismo, we were behind the wheel of our 1984 Alfa Romeo GTV, somewhere on the road towards Pontresina.
The curves of the Bernina do something to a car like that. Or perhaps a car like that does something to the curves. Which is why we keep coming back every September for the Gran Turismo, and to what we think is the most beautiful hillclimb there is. No big show, no staged spectacle, just historic machines, real mechanics and the sound of engines warming up outside the Hotel Bernina Hospiz in the early morning. Then the first cars start climbing. Historic racers, rare classics, carefully selected one-offs. All thrown into the same 52 bends between La Rösa and the Ospizio Bernina. The sound bounces off the rock faces and the pass changes character entirely.
5.4 kilometres. 450 metres of altitude. Mountain racing in its purest form. We’ll be there again, next September.
Bernina Gran Turismo
Bernina Pass, La Rösa – Ospizio Bernina
Route: 5.4 km · 52 bends · 450 m elevation
Fifty-two bends and the sort of sound that stays with you long after the cars have gone. Straight pipes give every engine its own voice: mechanical, distinctive and, at times, unexpectedly moving. It is part of what makes the Bernina GT feel less like an event and more like a proper celebration of cars made to be driven. By afternoon, the pass returns to normal. Until next September.
