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.
A 453 km round trip from Ripa-Pozzi-Querceta-Ponterosso - roughly 9 h 22 in the saddle. On the way it passes Isola del Tinetto, Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape, Bassa collina reggiana and Cathedral. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 35 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Seravezza is where the Apuan Alps meet the Versilia coast in northern Tuscany. Behind the beaches of Forte dei Marmi, the mountains rise abruptly, white with marble scars, and Seravezza sits at the mouth of a valley where two rivers join. The Palazzo Mediceo, built in the 1560s for Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, was a summer residence and a base for overseeing the region's marble quarries and silver mines. It is one of the Medici villas and gardens inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2013, and today it hosts museums and exhibitions.
Read the complete Palais de Seravezza write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Palais de Seravezza is where the day begins. Next is Isola del Tinetto.
Three islands trail off the tip of the Porto Venere peninsula like stepping stones: Palmaria, the largest, then Tino, and finally the Tinetto, a bare rock with the ruins of an early medieval monastic settlement and a small lighthouse beacon. Together with Porto Venere and the Cinque Terre, they form a World Heritage Site, listed for the way people shaped this rugged coast with terraces, villages and fortifications. The Tinetto is home to a rare lizard found only on these islands, and the waters around are rich in marine life.
Read the complete Isola del Tinetto write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Isola del Tinetto comes up about 68 km into the recorded legs. Next is Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape.
Gypsum dissolves in water far faster than limestone, and in the upper valley of the Secchia, in the Reggio Emilia Apennines, that simple fact has produced a strange landscape of white cliffs, sinkholes, caves and underground rivers. The Evaporitic Karst and Caves of the Northern Apennines were added to the World Heritage list in 2023, and this area near Castelnovo ne' Monti and Villa Minozzo holds some of the most striking outcrops, ancient Triassic gypsum that glitters in the sun and forms steep walls above the river. Near the Secchia, the springs of Poiano gush out of the rock with a strong flow of slightly salty water, fed by the karst system.
Read the complete Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 185 km into the recorded legs you reach Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape. Next is Bassa collina reggiana.
The low hills south of Reggio Emilia, where the Po plain starts to ripple up toward the Apennines, hide a strange geology: outcrops of gypsum, the glittering crystalline rock left behind when ancient seas evaporated millions of years ago. Water dissolves gypsum easily, and over time it has carved caves, sinkholes and blind valleys into these hills. The Bassa Collina Reggiana, the low Reggio hill country, is part of the UNESCO site Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Apennines, listed in 2023, and around Borzano, Albinea and Vezzano sul Crostolo you can see the white and grey gypsum cliffs poking through the woods and vineyards.
Read the complete Bassa collina reggiana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bassa collina reggiana, about halfway. Next is Cathedral.
Modena's cathedral is one of the masterpieces of Romanesque architecture in Europe, and the inscription on its facade still names its makers with pride: the architect Lanfranco and the sculptor Wiligelmo. Work began in 1099 to house the relics of Saint Geminianus, the city's patron, and the result is a building of pale stone, with arcaded galleries, lions supporting the columns of the portal, and carved panels telling the story of Genesis with an expressive power that still surprises. The Ghirlandina, the cathedral's bell tower, leans slightly and rises high above the rooftops, and together with the Piazza Grande they form a UNESCO site.
Read the complete Cathedral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cathedral sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is back through Bassa collina reggiana.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bassa collina reggiana write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Bassa collina reggiana comes up about 307 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 355 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape. Next is back through Isola del Tinetto.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palais de Seravezza write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Isola del Tinetto, late in the day. Next is Palais de Seravezza.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palais de Seravezza write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 390 km.
Palais de Seravezza → Isola del Tinetto is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Isola del Tinetto → Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape is 117 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape → Bassa collina reggiana is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Bassa collina reggiana → Cathedral is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cathedral → back through Bassa collina reggiana is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Bassa collina reggiana → back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape → Back to Palais de Seravezza is 100 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.