Mille Miglia Historic Route Core

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Brescia

   Brescia is one of those Italian cities that is much better than its reputation. It lies at the foot of the Alps, on the edge of the Lombard plain, with the Garda and Iseo lakes close by and the Val Trompia and Val Camonica running north into the mountains. It has Roman remains, including a temple and theatre on the slopes beneath the castle, as well as a medieval and Renaissance heart. The Santa Giulia monastery, now a museum, is a UNESCO site, and the castle on the hill above gives a wide view across the rooftops.

   Read the complete Brescia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Brescia is where the day begins. Next is Verona.

2. 2. Verona

   Verona is one of those Italian cities where the Romans left such a large footprint that the later centuries had to build around it. The Arena, a first-century amphitheatre, is still used for performances, and each summer the opera festival fills its stone seats with audiences who bring candles and cushions. A few streets away lies the Piazza delle Erbe, once the Roman forum, now an open-air market beneath frescoed palaces and the old watchtower. The Adige river loops around the old town in a tight S-bend, and the stone bridges and ramparts that cross it make a handsome backdrop to evening walks.

   Read the complete Verona write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Verona comes up about 72 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ferrara.

3. 3. Ferrara

   Ferrara is a city built for walking and cycling, with flat streets, a ring of Renaissance walls nine kilometres long, and so many bicycles that it is called the city of bicycles. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under the Este family, it was one of the great courts of Renaissance Italy, and the Estense castle, with its moat and drawbridges, still dominates the centre. The city's Renaissance planning, especially the Herculean Addition, a new quarter laid out in the late fifteenth century, led historians to call it the first modern city in Europe, and UNESCO has inscribed Ferrara and the Po Delta as a World Heritage Site.

   Read the complete Ferrara write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 179 km into the recorded legs you reach Ferrara. Next is Ravenna.

4. 4. Ravenna

   Ravenna is a town that was once the capital of an empire, and then largely forgotten, which is why so much of it survives. In 402 AD the Western Roman emperor Honorius moved his court here, because the marshes around it were easier to defend than Rome. After Rome fell, the Ostrogoth king Theodoric ruled from Ravenna, and then the Byzantine emperor Justinian reconquered it, and left behind the churches whose mosaics are among the glories of early Christian art. Eight of its early Christian monuments are on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

   Read the complete Ravenna write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Ravenna, about halfway. Next is Rome.

5. 5. Rome

   Rome is the end of the line for the Mille Miglia, or at least the halfway mark, because the old race ran out from Brescia to Rome and back again, a thousand Italian miles in all, which is where the name comes from. It ran from 1927 until 1957, mostly through towns and villages with the roads left open and crowds standing at the kerb, and the drivers flew down the Via Cassia and through the Apennine passes at speeds that make the whole thing seem barely believable now. It ended after a crash in 1957 that killed spectators, and was later revived as a rolling classic-car parade, which still comes through Rome every spring.

   Read the complete Rome write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Rome sits at 473 km, about halfway. Next is Siena.

6. 6. Siena

   Siena is the opposite of Florence in nearly every way that matters, and the Sienese would like you to remember it. It sits on three ridges in southern Tuscany, a compact medieval city of brick and stone in warm reddish-brown tones, and at its centre lies the Piazza del Campo, a vast shell-shaped square sloping down to a tall brick tower, the Torre del Mangia, about a hundred metres high. Twice each summer, on the second of July and the sixteenth of August, the square is covered with earth and ten riders from the city's districts, the contrade, race bareback around it in the Palio, a dangerous, chaotic event that lasts about ninety seconds and is felt by the whole city as a matter of honour.

   Read the complete Siena write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Siena comes up about 869 km into the recorded legs. Next is Florence.

7. 7. Florence

   Florence was one of the great stops on the Mille Miglia, and it is easy to see why the race came through. Drivers arriving from Bologna had crossed the Raticosa and Futa passes in the Apennines, a long, twisting run of hairpins that tested both engines and nerves, then dropped down into the Arno valley to the city where Brunelleschi's red dome rises above a sea of terracotta roofs. The dome, completed in the fifteenth century over the cathedral, was a feat of engineering that was done without a conventional wooden frame, and it still defines the skyline.

   Read the complete Florence write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 947 km into the recorded legs you reach Florence. Next is Parma.

8. 8. Parma

   Parma sits on the Via Emilia, the straight Roman road that crosses the plain from Rimini to Piacenza, and today it is known above all for what is eaten there. Parmigiano-Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma both come from this corner of Emilia, and a visit is not complete without a slice of each, accompanied by a glass of local sparkling red such as Lambrusco, which is sold everywhere. The pasta here is stuffed with spinach and ricotta, and the fried bread called torta fritta arrives with plates of cured meat.

   Read the complete Parma write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Parma, late in the day. Next is Brescia.

9. 9. Brescia

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Brescia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 1251 km.