The Giovi Pass at 472 metres was for centuries the main land gateway between Genoa and the Po Plain, and the road over it was one of the most important trade routes in northern Italy. The pass marked the old boundary between the Ligurian Republic and the territories beyond, and the Passo dei Giovi still carries that sense of threshold — the landscape shifts noticeably as you cross from the Ligurian side to the Piedmontese.
Cyclists know it as a classic climb on the route between Genoa and Turin, featured in old editions of Milan–San Remo. The gradient is steady rather than brutal, and the views from the top take in both sides of the Apennines on a clear day.