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.
A 247 km round trip from Bologna - roughly 4 h 19 in the saddle. The stops in between: Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, Villa de Cafaggiolo and back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. MamBo
Not every checkpoint on a ride needs to be old. MamBo, the Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna, opened in 2007 in a former municipal bakery on the northern edge of the old centre, and the building says a lot about how Bologna thinks. The city turned the factory where it once baked bread for its people into a home for twentieth-century and contemporary art, with a strong collection of Giorgio Morandi, the painter who spent his whole life in this town painting bottles and jugs on a table, and whose little house lies not far away.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
MamBo is where the day begins. Next is Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, 49 km on.
2. Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa de Cafaggiolo.
3. Villa de Cafaggiolo
In the green bowl of the Mugello, north of Florence, the Medici family kept a house long before they ruled the city. Cafaggiolo was an old family property, and around the middle of the fifteenth century Cosimo the Elder had the architect Michelozzo transform it into a fortified country villa, with battlements, a tower and a moat, a cross between a castle and a farmhouse. Lorenzo the Magnificent spent time here as a boy, and the villa became a favourite retreat for hunting and escaping the plague in the city. It is one of the Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany listed by UNESCO, and visits depend on current restoration and opening arrangements, so check before you arrive.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at MamBo. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
MamBo to Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola
MamBo → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola to Villa de Cafaggiolo
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola → Villa de Cafaggiolo is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Cafaggiolo to back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola
Villa de Cafaggiolo → back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola to MamBo
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola → MamBo is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.