CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 376 km round trip from Ravenna - roughly 6 h 54 in the saddle. The stops in between: Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro, Gessi Bolognesi, Diamantina and back through Gessi Bolognesi. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Ravenna was the capital of the western Roman empire in the fifth century, then of the Ostrogothic kingdom under Theodoric and later of Byzantine Italy, and each of these rulers left a layer of mosaics that glitter in the dark. The Archiepiscopal Chapel, dedicated to Sant'Andrea, was built around the year 500 by Theodoric, who was an Arian Christian, and its vault and walls are covered in gold and white mosaics of birds, flowers, and a Christ dressed as a Roman soldier, trampling a lion and a serpent. It is a tiny space, barely big enough for a small group, but the effect is astonishing.
Read the complete Archiepiscopal Chapel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archiepiscopal Chapel is where the day begins. Next is Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro, 58 km on.
Driving through the hills of Romagna, south of Faenza, you notice a long, pale ridge cutting across the valleys like a wall. This is the Vena del Gesso Romagnola, a band of gypsum rock about twenty-five kilometres long, and Monte Mauro is its highest point, rising above the villages of Riolo Terme, Brisighella and Fognano. The ridge is now a regional park and part of the UNESCO site for the evaporitic karst of the northern Apennines.
Read the complete Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gessi Bolognesi.
Ride south out of Bologna and within ten minutes the city's suburbs give way to something surprising: a range of low hills made of gypsum, a soft, crystalline rock that dissolves in water and forms caves, sinkholes and strange, shiny outcrops. These are the Gessi Bolognesi, a protected regional park between the Savena and Idice valleys, and in 2023 they became part of the UNESCO site for the evaporitic karst and caves of the northern Apennines.
Read the complete Gessi Bolognesi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach Gessi Bolognesi. Next is Diamantina.
The Este dukes of Ferrara loved their countryside retreats, the delizie, and they scattered them across the flat land around the city like jewels on a cloth. The Diamantina, near Vigarano Pieve west of Ferrara, was one of them, an estate of farmland, woods and buildings named after the diamond, a symbol of the Este family. The delizie are part of the UNESCO listing of Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta, which recognises the city's planned urban layout and the way the Este shaped the surrounding landscape, draining marshes and creating farms and hunting grounds.
Read the complete Diamantina write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Diamantina, about halfway. Next is back through Gessi Bolognesi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gessi Bolognesi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Gessi Bolognesi sits at 230 km, about halfway. Next is back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro, 58 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro comes up about 312 km into the recorded legs. Next is Archiepiscopal Chapel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archiepiscopal Chapel write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archiepiscopal Chapel closes the day.
Archiepiscopal Chapel → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro → Gessi Bolognesi is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gessi Bolognesi → Diamantina is 64 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Diamantina → back through Gessi Bolognesi is 64 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Gessi Bolognesi → back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Mauro → Archiepiscopal Chapel is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.