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 Sassofeltrio it runs 349 km to Sassofeltrio; allow about 7 h 21 of riding. It goes by way of Historic Centre of Urbino, Teatro Angelo Mariani, Sasso Fratino and back through Teatro Angelo Mariani. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Gessi di Onferno
The hills behind Rimini hide a surprising piece of geology. Around the hamlet of Onferno, in the comune of Gemmano, the ground is made of gypsum, laid down when the Mediterranean dried out millions of years ago and then pushed up into these ridges. Water dissolves gypsum easily, so the landscape is pocked with sinkholes, blind valleys and caves, and the Grotta di Onferno winds for hundreds of metres beneath the village. The name is often linked to inferno, supposedly because vapour rising from the cave mouth in cold weather looked like the breath of hell.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gessi di Onferno is where the day begins. Next is Historic Centre of Urbino.
2. Historic Centre of Urbino
Urbino is a whole hill turned into an idea. In the fifteenth century Federico da Montefeltro, a professional soldier who earned a fortune leading other people's armies, used it to build one of the most refined courts in Renaissance Italy, and the town that grew around his palace is still almost entirely brick and stone of that age. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1998, and it remains a lively university town rather than a museum.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historic Centre of Urbino comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Teatro Angelo Mariani.
3. Teatro Angelo Mariani
Sant'Agata Feltria is a small hill town in the upper Marecchia valley, with a castle on a rock, steep streets and one of the oldest wooden theatres in Italy. The Teatro Angelo Mariani dates from the early seventeenth century and has been rebuilt and restored over the centuries, with tiers of wooden boxes painted in soft colours around a small stage. It is named after Angelo Mariani, a nineteenth-century conductor who was a close collaborator of Verdi. The theatre is intimate, seating a few hundred at most, and it still hosts concerts and plays.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 101 km into the recorded legs you reach Teatro Angelo Mariani. Next is Sasso Fratino.
4. 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
Gessi di Onferno closes the day.
Leg by leg
Gessi di Onferno to Historic Centre of Urbino
Gessi di Onferno → Historic Centre of Urbino is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Urbino to Teatro Angelo Mariani
Historic Centre of Urbino → Teatro Angelo Mariani is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Teatro Angelo Mariani to Sasso Fratino
Teatro Angelo Mariani → Sasso Fratino is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sasso Fratino to back through Teatro Angelo Mariani
Sasso Fratino → back through Teatro Angelo Mariani is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Teatro Angelo Mariani to back through Historic Centre of Urbino
back through Teatro Angelo Mariani → back through Historic Centre of Urbino is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Urbino to Gessi di Onferno
back through Historic Centre of Urbino → Gessi di Onferno is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.