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.
From Modena it runs 358 km to Modena; allow about 7 h 28 of riding. It goes by way of Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape, Isola Palmaria and back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 70 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Modena's cathedral is one of the masterpieces of Romanesque architecture in Europe, and the inscription on its facade still names its makers with pride: the architect Lanfranco and the sculptor Wiligelmo. Work began in 1099 to house the relics of Saint Geminianus, the city's patron, and the result is a building of pale stone, with arcaded galleries, lions supporting the columns of the portal, and carved panels telling the story of Genesis with an expressive power that still surprises. The Ghirlandina, the cathedral's bell tower, leans slightly and rises high above the rooftops, and together with the Piazza Grande they form a UNESCO site.
Read the complete Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cathedral is where the day begins. Next is Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape.
Gypsum dissolves in water far faster than limestone, and in the upper valley of the Secchia, in the Reggio Emilia Apennines, that simple fact has produced a strange landscape of white cliffs, sinkholes, caves and underground rivers. The Evaporitic Karst and Caves of the Northern Apennines were added to the World Heritage list in 2023, and this area near Castelnovo ne' Monti and Villa Minozzo holds some of the most striking outcrops, ancient Triassic gypsum that glitters in the sun and forms steep walls above the river. Near the Secchia, the springs of Poiano gush out of the rock with a strong flow of slightly salty water, fed by the karst system.
Read the complete Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is Isola Palmaria.
Isola Palmaria is the biggest of the three islands that lie just off the southern tip of the Ligurian coast near Porto Venere, the others being the tiny Tino and Tinetto. Together with the Cinque Terre and Porto Venere itself, they make up a UNESCO World Heritage landscape, and on a clear morning the sight of the cliffs plunging into the water, with pastel houses on the headland opposite, is as good as anything on the Italian coast. The Gulf of La Spezia was nicknamed the Gulf of Poets after the English writers who came here, including Byron, who is said to have swum across to Lerici from a grotto at Porto Venere that now carries his name.
Read the complete Isola Palmaria write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 179 km into the recorded legs you reach Isola Palmaria. Next is back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape, late in the day. Next is Cathedral.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Cathedral. That is the ride.
Cathedral → Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape is 62 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape → Isola Palmaria is 117 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Isola Palmaria → back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape is 117 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape → Cathedral is 62 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.