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 241 km round trip from Bologna - roughly 4 h 18 in the saddle. On the way it passes Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, Villa de Cafaggiolo and back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola. The line favours views over speed.
Where Strada Maggiore begins, in the shadow of the Two Towers, a very particular little cluster of buildings stands: the Palazzo della Mercanzia, a Gothic building of the late fourteenth century that housed the merchants' guild and its court, a body that settled commercial disputes and regulated trade. Its façade is decorated with the coats of arms of the guilds, and it forms part of the dense core of medieval Bologna, an area of narrow lanes and tall brick houses. Nearby stand the two leaning towers, Asinelli and Garisenda, the former rising nearly a hundred metres and the latter famously tilted, a symbol of the city.
Read the complete Santo Stefano e Mercanzia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Santo Stefano e Mercanzia is where the day begins. Next is Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, 48 km on.
The Santerno valley climbs south from Imola into the Apennines toward Tuscany, and about fifteen kilometres up, the river cuts through a ridge of shining grey-white rock. This is the western end of the Vena del Gesso Romagnola, the gypsum vein that runs across this part of Romagna, and Monte Penzola rises above the village of Borgo Tossignano, with Fontanelice and Casalfiumanese nearby.
Read the complete Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola comes up about 56 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa de Cafaggiolo.
In the green bowl of the Mugello, north of Florence, the Medici family kept a house long before they ruled the city. Cafaggiolo was an old family property, and around the middle of the fifteenth century Cosimo the Elder had the architect Michelozzo transform it into a fortified country villa, with battlements, a tower and a moat, a cross between a castle and a farmhouse. Lorenzo the Magnificent spent time here as a boy, and the villa became a favourite retreat for hunting and escaping the plague in the city. It is one of the Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany listed by UNESCO, and visits depend on current restoration and opening arrangements, so check before you arrive.
Read the complete Villa de Cafaggiolo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 120 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa de Cafaggiolo. Next is back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, 48 km on.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, late in the day. Next is Santo Stefano e Mercanzia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Santo Stefano e Mercanzia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Santo Stefano e Mercanzia. That is the ride.
Santo Stefano e Mercanzia → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola → Villa de Cafaggiolo is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Cafaggiolo → back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola is 63 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola → Santo Stefano e Mercanzia is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.