Historic Centre of Urbino and San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titan
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
270 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 53
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.
From Urbino it runs 270 km to Urbino; allow about 5 h 53 of riding. It goes by way of Gessi di Onferno, Evaporiti di San Leo, Teatro Angelo Mariani and San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titan. It crosses from Italy into San Marino - carry ID and check the toll rules.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Gessi di Onferno.
2. 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 comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Evaporiti di San Leo.
3. Evaporiti di San Leo
San Leo stands on a limestone block that rises sheer out of the Marecchia valley, and from a distance it looks like a fortress that nobody could possibly have captured. The ground under it tells a longer and stranger story. The evaporite rocks in this area, gypsum and associated salts, were laid down around six million years ago, when the Mediterranean nearly dried out in what geologists call the Messinian salinity crisis. Seawater evaporated, minerals crystallised, and the beds you see in the cuttings are the leftovers of that event.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Evaporiti di San Leo. Next is Teatro Angelo Mariani.
4. 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
Teatro Angelo Mariani, about halfway. Next is San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titan.
5. San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titan
San Marino is a whole country balanced on the ridge of a single mountain, and you feel it the moment the road starts to climb out of the coastal plain. Monte Titano rises steeply from the hills behind Rimini, a long limestone crest with sheer cliffs on its eastern side, and the old town of San Marino clings to the top with three towers strung along the ridge like stitches. The first, Guaita, is the oldest and the most photographed; the second, Cesta, sits on the highest point; the third, Montale, is a slender lookout you can only see from outside.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 270 km.
Leg by leg
Historic Centre of Urbino to Gessi di Onferno
Historic Centre of Urbino → Gessi di Onferno is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gessi di Onferno to Evaporiti di San Leo
Gessi di Onferno → Evaporiti di San Leo is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Evaporiti di San Leo to Teatro Angelo Mariani
Evaporiti di San Leo → Teatro Angelo Mariani is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Teatro Angelo Mariani to San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titan
Teatro Angelo Mariani → San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titan is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titan to back through Teatro Angelo Mariani
San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titan → back through Teatro Angelo Mariani is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Teatro Angelo Mariani to back through Evaporiti di San Leo
back through Teatro Angelo Mariani → back through Evaporiti di San Leo is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Evaporiti di San Leo to back through Gessi di Onferno
back through Evaporiti di San Leo → back through Gessi di Onferno is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gessi di Onferno to Historic Centre of Urbino
back through Gessi di Onferno → Historic Centre of Urbino is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.