Why this ride
From Pisa it runs 367 km to Pisa; allow about 6 h 32 of riding. It goes by way of Palais de Seravezza, Isola del Tinetto, Portovenere and Isola del Tino.
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 367 km to Pisa; allow about 6 h 32 of riding. It goes by way of Palais de Seravezza, Isola del Tinetto, Portovenere and Isola del Tino.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 18 km this is Liguria Coastal Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
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 30 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.
61 km in you reach Isola del Tinetto. Next is Portovenere.
Portovenere is a pastel row of tall houses stacked along the water's edge, their backs forming a kind of sea wall, and at the end of the promontory a black-and-white striped church on a rock. The church of San Pietro, begun in the twelfth century in the Genoese Gothic style, stands on the foundations of an older sanctuary that was supposedly a temple of Venus, the goddess who gave the town its name, and the whole point of the place leans out into the Ligurian Sea. Across a narrow strait lie the islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto, part of the same World Heritage listing that covers the Cinque Terre. Byron is said to have swum across the bay to visit Shelley at Lerici, and a cave below the church carries his name.
Read the complete Portovenere write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Portovenere, about halfway. Next is Isola del Tino.
Isola del Tino is an island you are almost never allowed to visit. It lies just off the southern tip of the Ligurian coast, a short distance beyond Portovenere and the island of Palmaria, and it belongs to the Italian navy, which keeps it as a military zone. The one exception is the feast of San Venerio, on the thirteenth of September, when boats ferry visitors across and the public may walk on the island for the day. Venerius was a hermit who lived on the island, and the ruins of a medieval monastery built in his honour stand among the pines and rocks.
Read the complete Isola del Tino write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Isola del Tino sits at 122 km, about halfway. Next is back through Portovenere.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Portovenere write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Portovenere comes up 152 km in. 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.
182 km in you reach back through Isola del Tinetto. 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, late in the day. 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.
The route ends here after 243 km.
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 → Portovenere is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Portovenere → Isola del Tino is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Isola del Tino → back through Portovenere is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Portovenere → Back to Piazza del Duomo is 89 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Palais de Seravezza → Piazza del Duomo is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.