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 San Gimignano it runs 287 km to San Gimignano; allow about 5 h 28 of riding. On the way it passes Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany, Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola and back through Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany. The line favours views over speed.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 68 km this is Chiantigiana Wine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Seen from the surrounding countryside, San Gimignano looks like a medieval Manhattan: a cluster of stone towers rising from a hilltop above vineyards and olive groves in the Val d'Elsa. In its heyday, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the town had dozens of them, built by rival families as symbols of power and wealth. Fourteen survive, enough to make it one of the most recognisable towns in Italy and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1990.
Read the complete Historic Centre of San Gimignano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of San Gimignano is where the day begins. Next is Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany.
The Medici left behind a necklace of villas around Florence, and the group of them listed by UNESCO in 2013 shows how a banking family turned itself into a ruling dynasty with the help of architecture. Humanists, painters and poets were invited to talk and eat in these gardens, which is where some of the Renaissance really happened.
Read the complete Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany comes up about 68 km into the recorded legs. Next is Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, 68 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 143 km into the recorded legs you reach Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola. Next is back through Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany, late in the day. Next is Historic Centre of San Gimignano.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of San Gimignano write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Historic Centre of San Gimignano. That is the ride.
Historic Centre of San Gimignano → Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola → back through Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany → Historic Centre of San Gimignano is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.