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 Zola Predosa it runs 404 km to Zola Predosa; allow about 7 h 28 of riding. The stops in between: Gessi Bolognesi, Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, Baraccano and Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Southwest of Bologna, where the flat Po plain meets the first ripples of the Apennines, the hills around Zola Predosa hide a strange geology. These are gypsum hills, made of evaporite rock formed when an ancient sea dried out millions of years ago, leaving layers of shimmering selenite crystals. Water dissolves gypsum easily, and over time it has carved sinkholes, blind valleys and caves through the rock. In 2023, the Evaporitic Karst and Caves of the Northern Apennines were listed by UNESCO, and the Gessi Bolognesi around here are a key part of that story.
Read the complete Gessi di Zola predosa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gessi di Zola predosa is where the day begins. 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.
Gessi Bolognesi comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, 34 km on.
The Santerno valley climbs south from Imola into the Apennines toward Tuscany, and about fifteen kilometres up, the river cuts through a ridge of shining grey-white rock. This is the western end of the Vena del Gesso Romagnola, the gypsum vein that runs across this part of Romagna, and Monte Penzola rises above the village of Borgo Tossignano, with Fontanelice and Casalfiumanese nearby.
Read the complete Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 87 km into the recorded legs you reach Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola. Next is Baraccano.
Baraccano is not a village, it is a corner of Bologna: a gate in the old thirteenth-century walls where the Via Santo Stefano runs out of the centre. The name comes from the barbican that once defended it. Next to the gate stands the small sanctuary of the Madonna del Baraccano, a Renaissance church whose fresco of the Virgin drew pilgrims after a reported miracle, and beside it a lovely little courtyard, a place most visitors walk straight past on the way to the Two Towers.
Read the complete Baraccano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Baraccano, about halfway. Next is Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino, 34 km on.
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.
Read the complete Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino sits at 134 km, about halfway. Next is back through Baraccano.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Baraccano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Baraccano comes up about 260 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, 33 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 316 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola. 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, late in the day. Next is Gessi di Zola predosa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gessi di Zola predosa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 404 km.
Gessi di Zola predosa → Gessi Bolognesi is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gessi Bolognesi → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola → Baraccano is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Baraccano → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino → back through Baraccano is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Baraccano → back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola → back through Gessi Bolognesi is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gessi Bolognesi → Gessi di Zola predosa is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.