Basilica of St. Apollinaire Nuovo and Sasso Fratino
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
339 km
Riding-time estimate
6 h 18
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
339 km from Ravenna to Ravenna, about 6 h 18 of riding. On the way it passes Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino, Sasso Fratino and back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Basilica of St. Apollinaire Nuovo
Theodoric did not build Sant'Apollinare Nuovo as a monastery church. He built it around the year 500 as the palace chapel for his Arian court, a hall with a wooden roof and two long walls of marble columns, and it still carries the finest strip of mosaic in the city. High on the left wall, a procession of virgins in white robes moves from the port of Classe toward the Virgin and Child, led by the three Magi. On the right, a line of martyrs advances from the palace towards Christ enthroned. The walking figures look calm, and their gold background makes the whole nave shimmer.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Basilica of St. Apollinaire Nuovo is where the day begins. Next is Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino, 66 km on.
2. Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino
Crystals the size of a hand catch the sun along the Vena del Gesso, a ridge of selenite gypsum that runs for some twenty-five kilometres across the hills of Romagna, from the Sillaro valley to the Lamone. The rock formed millions of years ago when the Mediterranean dried up and its salts were deposited, and it has since been carved by water into caves, sinkholes and blind valleys. In 2023, UNESCO listed the evaporite karst and caves of the northern Apennines, and the Vena del Gesso is the heart of it. Monte Casino is one of the peaks on the ridge, near Borgo Tossignano and Casola Valsenio.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino comes up about 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sasso Fratino.
3. Sasso Fratino
Sasso Fratino is a forest you are not allowed to enter, and that is precisely the point. High on the Romagna side of the Apennine ridge, in the national park of the Casentino forests, it was declared Italy's first integral nature reserve in 1959, and since then nature has been left almost entirely to itself. Ancient beech woods cling to steep slopes, with silver fir, maple and ash mixed in, and dead trees are left to rot where they fall, feeding fungi, beetles and birds. In 2017 it became part of the transnational World Heritage listing of ancient beech forests of Europe.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Basilica of St. Apollinaire Nuovo. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Basilica of St. Apollinaire Nuovo to Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino
Basilica of St. Apollinaire Nuovo → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino is 65 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino to Sasso Fratino
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino → Sasso Fratino is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Sasso Fratino to back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino
Sasso Fratino → back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino to Basilica of St. Apollinaire Nuovo
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino → Basilica of St. Apollinaire Nuovo is 63 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.