Why this ride
A 308 km round trip from Ripa-Pozzi-Querceta-Ponterosso - roughly 4 h 38 in the saddle. On the way it passes Montecatini Terme, Historic Centre of San Gimignano and back through Montecatini Terme. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Palais de Seravezza and Historic Centre of San Gimignano
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 308 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 38
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Palais de Seravezza
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Palais de Seravezza is where the day begins. Next is Montecatini Terme.
2. Montecatini Terme
The water at Montecatini has been drunk for health since the Middle Ages, but it was in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the town became one of the great spa resorts of Europe, with grand thermal establishments built in neoclassical, Liberty and Art Deco styles, set in parks of plane trees and pines. The Tettuccio, with its marble colonnades and frescoes, is the most famous, a temple of water where visitors drink from taps along a counter. In 2021 Montecatini became part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe World Heritage Site, alongside Baden-Baden, Bath, Vichy and others.
Read the complete Montecatini Terme write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Montecatini Terme comes up about 70 km into the recorded legs. Next is Historic Centre of San Gimignano.
3. Historic Centre of San Gimignano
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 167 km into the recorded legs you reach Historic Centre of San Gimignano. Next is back through Montecatini Terme.
4. back through Montecatini Terme
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Montecatini Terme write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Montecatini Terme, late in the day. Next is Palais de Seravezza.
5. Palais de Seravezza
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palais de Seravezza write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Palais de Seravezza. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Palais de Seravezza to Montecatini Terme
Palais de Seravezza → Montecatini Terme is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Montecatini Terme to Historic Centre of San Gimignano
Montecatini Terme → Historic Centre of San Gimignano is 97 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Historic Centre of San Gimignano to back through Montecatini Terme
Historic Centre of San Gimignano → back through Montecatini Terme is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Montecatini Terme to Palais de Seravezza
back through Montecatini Terme → Palais de Seravezza is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.