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 Ravenna it runs 339 km to Ravenna; allow about 6 h 17 of riding. The stops in between: Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino, Sasso Fratino and back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
This part of the ride is 64 km of Mausoleum of Galla Placida → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino.
It is a surprise how small Galla Placidia's mausoleum is. A cross-shaped brick chamber no bigger than a modest chapel, it stands hidden behind the church of San Vitale in a quiet corner, with plain walls that give no hint of what is inside. Step in and the dark opens into a deep blue night. The vault is covered in tiny gold stars on a field of lapis-coloured glass, and a gold cross shines in the dome above, with figures of the apostles and doves drinking from a fountain in the lunettes. The only light comes through thin alabaster windows, which turn the daylight amber.
Read the complete Mausoleum of Galla Placida write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mausoleum of Galla Placida is where the day begins. Next is Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino, 65 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 comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
Read the complete Sasso Fratino write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 169 km into the recorded legs you reach Sasso Fratino. Next is back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino, 65 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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.
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino, late in the day. Next is Mausoleum of Galla Placida.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mausoleum of Galla Placida write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Mausoleum of Galla Placida. That is the ride.
Mausoleum of Galla Placida → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino → Sasso Fratino is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Sasso Fratino → back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino is 106 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Casino → Mausoleum of Galla Placida is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.