Touring Lazio, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna
After a couple of nice days of travel admin (re: laundry, bike maintenance and cleans, etc) and swimming we are transferring to Rome where we begin our journey north to Bologna through both well known, and some lesser known towns in Lazio, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna. We are planning following parts of the EV5, Via Francigena and EV7 and although we have tackled some small rises and a key climb into Santa Margherita so far, this will be the first prolonged stage involving daily climbing. We trust this will put us in good shape for the Dolomites! We expect this stage to take approx. 9 days as we also enjoy some the hilltop towns and of course the wine and food.
Getting to Rome and Surrounds
We have been to Rome a few times in the past, so we only planned to do a ‘highlights’ stop as we prepared to go north. We were aware that we would be transferring on a Sunday from the popular tourist region around Portofino to the Italian capital, so to ensure we got a train that allowed us to get to Rome in ample time we booked at least a week in advance. We used the Trenitalia website, as it was far easier to navigate than the app when adding the required booking of the bikes. We boarded in Rapallo for our five hour journey to Roma Ostiense where we got off so we could ride through Rome. The journey gave us plenty of time to listen to some of the greatest top 10 albums of all time…
Bit of a false start to this sector this morning as Janette was struggling with a migraine. We had always planned to catch a train clear of Rome with the aim of riding a 40km+ stretch once in the Lazio countryside however circumstances led to catching the train all the way to Viterbo. We cycled from the hotel through the suburbs of Rome to San Pedro train station and this in itself was interesting. There is something wonderful about watching cities wake and seeing ordinary people following their usual routines. A few hills later and a lug of both laden bikes up and down the stairs to access the platform and we were on our way.
Viterbo (on the Eurovelo5 and VFB – Via Francigena – an ancient pilgrim route) is our first hilltop town and it has an interesting history as the residency of the Pope during the 1100 and 1200’s.
There is an interesting story from that time where the authorities and the people became frustrated by the Cardinals taking too long to elect the next Pope so they locked them into a local villa with limited food and water until they made a decision. Nearly three years later, Gregory X was finally elected! Viterbo is a classic hilltop town in Lazio, well worth a visit for its medieval streets and alleys and sights. We have checked into The Hotel Nazareth and it is quite possibly the most value for money hotel we have encountered. It is bike friendly with a large separate storage room which also has maintenance and cleaning facilities that could easily hold more than 20 bikes.
Today was a real highlight as we got to ride the Via Francigena and the Via Cassia (SS2) for an extended period from Viterbo to Bolsena and its beautiful lake. The Via Francigena (circa 700 AD) was a Pilgrim route that linked Abbeys, not cities like the roman roads and ran from Canterbury (UK) through France and Switzerland to Rome. It seems the route still attracts multiple ‘pilgrims’ as we passed quite a few hikers, and a few cyclists along the way. The ride had one significant climb through the hilltop town of Montefiascone, but once on the other side we followed alongside Lake Bolsena with more gentle gradients. Janette, also discovered that her front derailer issue persists, but has surrendered to the Shimano lever gods and will ignore it for the next 1500Km’s!
Tonight we are camping at Camping La Cappelletta Di Stella P. Luigi beside the lake, and for those who have seen the classic Australian comedy The Castle, ‘how’s the serenity?
Today began well enough with a little climb out of our campsite in Bolsena. Chris was feeling a little sluggish but perked up after an orange and some nuts! We mostly followed the Via Francigena today, but with some time on the SS2. Our first hilltop town, San Lorenzo Nuovo has a pleasant (and flat!) town square where we enjoyed a cool fizzy water as it was already heating up. Next was Acquapendente which had a cobbled town square area which demanded a coffee stop. From there we followed the SS2, crossed from Lazio to Tuscany and at Ponte a Rigo the fun (?) began as we rejoined the via Francigena for our final 10km of the day.
The climb trundled along nicely for the first couple of kilometres, then we discovered why pilgrimages are hard. The dirt road rose up and it continued to rise and rise for 440 vertical metres over the remaining 8km to Radicofani. We passed several hikers who were coming down but saw no other bikes. In actual fact, at this point we became more like the hikers as we pushed our bikes for the bulk of the climb! Make no mistake, this was a hard day in the warm sun with little shade, but always treated to spectacular views and whilst this did help, we still needed to employ our best motivational tactics (turns out we both count steps/pedal strokes when struggling!). Multiple rest stops later we neared the summit, only to be passed by a couple of mountain bikers heading down hill. They checked out our rigs, asked if we were ok, and could be heard having a giggle around 100m down the hill – maybe taking this route with 15 kilo laden touring cycles was not the usual, or perhaps the smartest option??
We eventually rolled into Radicofani after a 6+hr day only the find ourselves in the middle of what we now call the ‘shut down’ which is the period in the afternoon when towns close up between 1-4pm. There was not a beer or water to be found for these weary pilgrims. We made our way to our dormitory accommodation (the Ostello Communal Refuge – Rifugo Alceo Gestri) for cold showers in the communal bathrooms, and again need to hall our bikes ang luggage to the third floor. Maybe we should leave the via Francigena and get back on the SS2 and other roads tomorrow…
Well, what goes up must come down and that is how our day started. It was planned as a short day past some typical Tuscan hilltop towns to San Quirico d’Orcia, with the initial 10km being a drop from 870 metres to approx. 300 metres as we made our way through the Val D’Orica. Hitting 55km/h fully laden was a different challenge to yesterday, but with much less sweat! As we moved through the valley on the EV5 and SS2 we passed some beautiful hilltop villages including Campiglia D’orcia and then, judging by the number of cars stopped for a photo of the pencil pines (Viale di Cipressi) leading to a stone farmhouse (Poggio Covili), we thought we may have found the house of Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) from the movie Gladiator. Later research confirmed that this was the area where filming took place, though this was not the actual house. Regardless, it is the Tuscany seen on postcards.
Another welcome relief given yesterday was the Antiche Terme Romane Libere, which is at the base of a small climb 5km from San Quirico d’Orcia. An hour or so soak in coolish water with today’s temperature of 28c helped, even for the small climb on this short day. We are staying at the Il Garibaldi which is a family run combination of Petrol Station, Restaurant and Guest House, but the all-encompassing simplicity suits our purpose. Based on the smells from lunch, dinner should be very tasty. We are planning to leave early tomorrow for Siena as the forecast is for 30 degree and we are now starting to review some of our plans for the next few days with similar weather and more hills coming!
With a nod to the expected heat today we set sail early. We headed into the old town proper this morning, as we had not made it there in the afternoon heat of yesterday and enjoyed a coffee. The day promised a few climbs and we set sail with slight trepidation given our recent experiences on the hills of Tuscany! Turned out that we needn’t have worried. The path, again part of the via Francigena, was the stuff of your Tuscan dreams. White gravel cutting a line through rolling green hills – in the distance the landscape was dotted with hilltop towns and provided truly spectacular views throughout the day. We passed the Caparzo winery with its classic pencil pine lined driveway, but alas it was not open, so we cycled on through the small towns of Buonconcento and Monteroni d’Arbia and on to Siena. We have been a Siena previously so did not need to hunt the sights, although our casual wander around the streets still clocked up about 8000 steps not including the obligatory climb to our sixth-floor accommodation (no lift!). With a view to the expected afternoon heat, we changed plan in the morning and treated ourselves to a hotel as opposed to the planned campground. We are staying at the Hotel Centrale who happily allowed us to keep the bikes in the room – although lugging the gear and bikes up those stairs was a killer!
In any given tour there are going to be days that are not about the sights, but are more ‘transitional’ in that they are about getting to the next place – and this was one of those days. We left Siena early to beat the heat of the day and enjoyed a lovely downhill run that, in a different season perhaps, downhill skiers would enjoy. This led us to Monteriggioni passing its most excellent Castello on the way. We had spied a dedicated bike path that ran parallel to the SS2 so we jumped on that and rode through Castellina and Staggia Senese and its impressive medieval castle. We stayed in the valley passing through the industrial outskirts of Poggibonsi, joining the SR429 through Certaldo and arriving in Castlefiorentina. On a Sunday, none of these towns were particularly spectacular, but in Castlefiorentina at least, the people bought this town to life! Come 5pm, large groups of older ladies gathered in the tables at the front of cafes chatting and having a drink, the men had gathered similarly, but in the Tabacchi, and everyone else were gathered in the Piazza A.Gransci catching up with friends while kids ran and played. A heartwarming display of community.
Today started a little slow with a minor gear issue with Chris’s bike and a visit to the quickest gear tuner we have encountered – M. Cirri at Officina Riparazione Cycli. The ride from Prato into the Apennines, along the SR325 past through the northern suburbs of Prato and the into a quite nice valley. There are dedicated bike paths out of Prato and into the range and are named for famous Italian cyclists (Bartoli, Fausto and Pantani), but unfortunately, they are broken with tree routes and pedestrians, so we found it easier just to stick to the roads. The Italian drivers continue to be very courteous to cyclists, even as the road narrows. We ride through Vaiano and some other historic textile towns (which the area is famous) up the Bisenzio valley to the town of Vernio. It was at this point we jumped on a train for one-shop as the train entered a 18km tunnel until the Montepiano high point within the range. Upon leaving the train after the tunnel, we continued to RioVeggio where we are over night at the very nice Camping Riva Del Setta. Tomorrow Bologna!
Today was a relative short day as we head to Bologna for another couple of days off the bike. We have not been to Bologna before and everything we read, watch or hear speaks to a city that is a little ‘unknown,’ hiding nestled between its bigger cousins, Florence and Venice. We continue to ride up the SP325 (Via Val di Setta) which runs in parallel with both the railway and the A1 that connects the major Italian city’s (Naples, Rome, Milan, Florence, etc) and you get to see first hand the impressive, at least from an Australian perspective, investment in road infrastructure as tunnels bore strait through the range that we are descending. At some point the SP325 must have been a major road, as we also get to again ride through some older tunnels with much less traffic!
The route provides some great valley scenery including the Ponte di Vizzano (see Insta post) and the Palazzo de’ Rossi (see Insta post) as we rejoin the EV5 and track up the Reno river. The are a couple of confusing sections of the EV5 as it turns to single track on the outskirts of Bologna in Casalecchio di Reno, but overall it was a great days ride on either the roads, the cycle paths and/or tracks. We arrived in Bologna around mid-day to start exploring what is beautiful University based city (the oldest continuous University in the world), learning that the city is famous for Tagliatelle, Tortellini, Lasagna, Lambrusco and Sangiovese…not spaghetti! We are also set enjoy Janette’s birthday sampling the above and to get our ‘admin’ done.
We are staying in a nice pension called Residenza San Martino, and as has been a regular occurrence checked out another bike repair store for some assistance. Thanks to Aldo at Alman Cicli for tuning our gears ready for the next stage.
We have now completed our stage through Lazio, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, and move to the higher peaks of the Veneto and Dolomites as we put towards Innsbruck and Munich.
