CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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 Pisa it runs 441 km to Pisa; allow about 7 h 57 of riding. The stops in between: Palais de Seravezza, Isola del Tinetto, Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape and Piazza del Duomo. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Nothing prepares you for that first glimpse through the gateway. A wide green lawn, and set on it like ornaments on a cloth, the white marble cathedral, the round baptistery, the cemetery cloister of the Camposanto, and of course the bell tower, leaning at an angle that looks wrong no matter how many photographs you have seen. The Piazza del Duomo in Pisa, also called the Field of Miracles, was one of the first places in Italy to be listed by UNESCO, back in 1987.
Read the complete Piazza del Duomo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Piazza del Duomo is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Palais de Seravezza comes up 55 km in. 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.
110 km in you reach Isola del Tinetto. 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.
Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape, about halfway. Next is back through Isola del Tinetto.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Piazza del Duomo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Isola del Tinetto sits at 219 km, about halfway. Next is back through 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.
back through Palais de Seravezza comes up 274 km in. Next is Piazza del Duomo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Piazza del Duomo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Piazza del Duomo closes the day.
Piazza del Duomo → Palais de Seravezza is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palais de Seravezza → Isola del Tinetto is 40 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 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Evaporitic Karst and Caves of Northern Ape → Back to Piazza del Duomo is 95 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Palais de Seravezza → Piazza del Duomo is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.