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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Tarquinia it runs 311 km to Tarquinia; allow about 6 h 22 of riding. The stops in between: Monte Raschio, Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar, Vatican City and The Via Appia across Alban Hills. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 36 km this is Mille Miglia Historic Route Core, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Tarquinia sits on a hill a few kilometres inland from the Tyrrhenian coast, in the northern tip of Lazio where the land starts to feel more like Tuscany. The town was called Corneto until 1922, when it took back the name of the Etruscan city of Tarchna that once stood on the neighbouring plateau. The old centre is tight, brownish stone, medieval towers, and a few good small piazzas; the main reason people come, though, lies on the Monterozzi ridge just outside, where the Etruscans built their necropolis.
Read the complete Tarquinia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Tarquinia is where the day begins. Next is Monte Raschio.
Beech trees usually need altitude and cool weather in central Italy, so it is a surprise to find a beech forest at only about five hundred metres on Monte Raschio, a low volcanic hill near Oriolo Romano, north-west of Rome. The forest survives here thanks to a local microclimate, with humidity from Lake Bracciano and the volcanic soils, and it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a site that spans many countries.
Read the complete Monte Raschio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Monte Raschio comes up 37 km in. Next is Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar.
The Etruscans built their houses of wood and mud brick, which is why so few survive, and they built their tombs of rock, which is why we know them best through their dead. The Banditaccia necropolis at Cerveteri, north-west of Rome, is a city of tombs: great round tumuli covered in grass, cut into the volcanic tufa and laid out along streets, with chambers inside carved to look like houses, with beds, chairs, columns and beams. The necropolis, together with the painted tombs of Tarquinia further north, was listed by UNESCO in 2004, and walking its lanes is one of the most atmospheric experiences in central Italy.
Read the complete Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
75 km in you reach Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar. Next is Vatican City.
The smallest state in the world is about forty-four hectares of walled hill on the right bank of the Tiber, and somehow it contains the largest church in Christendom, one of the greatest art collections ever assembled and a population that would barely fill a village. The Vatican exists as an independent country since the Lateran Treaty of 1929 between the Holy See and Mussolini's Italy, but the popes have been building here for far longer. St Peter's Basilica stands over the traditional site of the apostle's grave, and its dome, designed by Michelangelo, dominates the skyline of western Rome. Bernini's colonnade, sweeping round the square like two great arms, was meant to embrace every visitor who arrived.
Read the complete Vatican City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Vatican City, about halfway. Next is The Via Appia across Alban Hills.
The Romans built the Appian Way straight as a ruler across the Campagna, but when it reached the Alban Hills, the old volcanic massif south-east of Rome, even they had to bend a little. At Ariccia, the road crossed a deep valley on a huge viaduct of stone blocks, parts of which still survive, and climbed past Albano and Genzano toward Velletri and the south.
Read the complete The Via Appia across Alban Hills write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Via Appia across Alban Hills sits at 149 km, about halfway. Next is back through Vatican City.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vatican City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Vatican City comes up 186 km in. Next is back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
224 km in you reach back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar. Next is back through Monte Raschio.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Monte Raschio write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Monte Raschio, late in the day. Next is Tarquinia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tarquinia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 311 km.
Tarquinia → Monte Raschio is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Monte Raschio → Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar → Vatican City is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vatican City → The Via Appia across Alban Hills is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia across Alban Hills → back through Vatican City is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vatican City → back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar → back through Monte Raschio is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Monte Raschio → Tarquinia is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.