Val Trebbia Sweep
A 511 km loop from Val Trebbia
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Why this ride
Leave the city behind and spend the day on roads with texture. 511 km round from Crema - plan on about 9 h 27 of riding. The stops in between: Cosio Valtellino, near Giubiasco, near Vercelli and Binasco. near Rovescala is the high point. It tops out at about 1,800 m. It crosses from Italy into Switzerland - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Roadbook
- Fuel stop near Crema
fuel
Fuel at 0 km.
- Near Cosio Valtellino, on the way back
swim
The Costiera dei Cech is the sunny, south-facing slope on the north side of the lower Valtellina, and this stop lies at its foot, between Mello, Traona and Cercino. Vines and chestnut trees climb the terraces, and the old villages perch on the slope, catching the sun all day. Across the valley, the shaded north-facing slopes are dark with forest, a contrast that shapes life here.
The Adda flows through the valley floor towards Lake Como, a few kilometres west, where the northern tip of the lake meets the flat wetlands of the Pian di Spagna, a nature reserve full of birds. The Abbey of Piona, on a peninsula near Colico, is a Romanesque monastery where monks still live, with a beautiful cloister and views over the lake.
Val Masino, to the north-east, is a granite valley famous for its climbing, with huge boulders and clean rock faces, and the hot springs of Bagni di Masino at its head. The road up the valley is narrow and winding, with stunning views.
For a swim, Lake Como is the obvious choice, with beaches at Colico and along the shore. The water is cold but clear, and on a hot day it is wonderfully refreshing. The Lago di Mezzola, north of Como, is quieter, with reed beds and calm water.
The food of the Valtellina is hearty: pizzoccheri, buckwheat pasta with cabbage, potatoes and cheese; bresaola, air-dried beef; and Sforzato, a rich red wine made from dried grapes. Cosio and Morbegno have fuel, shops and restaurants.
- Food stop near Giubiasco
food
Giubiasco lies at the southern edge of Bellinzona, the capital of the Swiss canton of Ticino, where the valley of the Ticino river opens towards the Magadino plain and Lake Maggiore. For centuries, this was the gateway to the Alpine passes, the Gotthard, San Bernardino and Lukmanier, and whoever controlled Bellinzona controlled the trade routes between Italy and northern Europe.
That is why Bellinzona has three castles, Castelgrande, Montebello and Sasso Corbaro, built by the Dukes of Milan in the fifteenth century and linked by walls that once blocked the entire valley. They are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the views from their towers over the valley and the mountains are spectacular. Castelgrande, on its rock in the middle of town, is the most impressive.
As a food stop, Giubiasco and Bellinzona have plenty of choice. Ticino's food is Italian in spirit, with Swiss precision: polenta, risotto, game, cured meats and cheeses from the mountain valleys, and the local Merlot, which thrives in the mild climate. The traditional grotti, rustic restaurants in the woods above the towns, often with stone tables under chestnut trees, are a delight in summer.
The riding from here is superb. The roads north lead to the great Alpine passes, while the road south over the Monte Ceneri leads to Lugano and the lakes. Switzerland requires a motorway vignette, motorcycles included, and speed limits are strictly enforced, with heavy fines. Fuel is available in town.
- Photo stop near Vercelli
photo
Photo stop near Vercelli, about halfway.
- Near Binasco
finish
Leave Milan to the south and within twenty minutes the city gives way to rice. The Parco Agricolo Sud Milano protects a wide belt of farmland around the city, and between Binasco, Zibido San Giacomo and Noviglio the fields are flooded each spring, turning the plain into a vast mirror of sky, laced with canals and lines of poplars. The locals call it the chequered sea.
Binasco is a small town on the Naviglio Pavese, the canal that runs from Milan to Pavia. It has a castle built by the Visconti, and it was there, in 1418, that Beatrice di Tenda, wife of Filippo Maria Visconti, was beheaded on a charge of adultery, a story later turned into an opera by Bellini. South of Binasco, the Certosa di Pavia, a huge Carthusian monastery with a marble facade, is one of the great monuments of Lombardy.
Starting or finishing here gives you a gentle introduction to the plain. The roads are flat and straight, running along canals and between fields, with old farmhouses, cascine, scattered across the landscape. In spring, the flooded rice fields are full of herons, egrets and frogs, and the evenings are loud with croaking. In summer, mosquitoes are a nuisance.
The ride south towards the Trebbia valley crosses the Po and climbs into the Apennines, where the roads become twisty and the scenery more dramatic. The return to Binasco brings you back into the flat calm of the plain, a pleasant way to wind down.
Practicalities are simple in Binasco: pumps on the main road, bars by the canal, trattorias that cook the rice grown in the fields you just rode past. Risotto here is not a menu choice so much as a local obligation.
- Scenic stretch near Casteggio
scenic
Scenic stretch near Casteggio comes up 365 km in.
- High point near Rovescala
pass
You top out here; the road stops climbing.
- Back to Val Trebbia
finish
Crema is the town to know here, a walled little city of about thirty thousand people on the Serio river, a short hop east of Milan's commuter sprawl and quite unlike it. The stop sits just outside, among fields and villages such as Capergnanica and Bagnolo Cremasco, in flat Lombard farmland where the horizon is a line of poplars and the Alps show only on very clear winter days.
Do not expect the Val Trebbia itself, which lies well south, in the Apennines toward Bobbio. This is the lowland end of the ride, where the day's altitude has long since drained away and the road is a matter of straight farm lanes, bridges over irrigation canals and the odd roundabout. Surfaces are generally fine, though heavy farm traffic leaves grooves, and after rain the verges carry mud from the beet and maize harvest. Mornings in autumn bring a fog that sits on the plain like cotton wool.
Crema deserves an hour more than most finish points. Its old centre was fortified by Venice, whose border with Milan ran close by for centuries, and the Venetian walls and bastions still shape the town. Piazza Duomo is a tidy square of brick and white stone, the cathedral mixing Lombard Gothic with later changes. The area is known for tortelli cremaschi, a stuffed pasta with a curious sweet filling of amaretti and raisins that surprises anyone expecting plain cheese, and it is worth ordering once for the story alone.
Fuel is no problem in Crema, and the smaller villages around have pumps too, though self-service machines are common outside daytime hours, so carry a note or a card that works with them. Parking in the centre is limited-access in places, so leave the bike on the outer streets if you want to walk the old town. After the Apennine curves, the flatness can feel like a stiff drink after a long meal, but it is a gentle way to let the day settle.