Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti and Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti

   Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-born composer who made his career in America, and in 1958 he decided that Spoleto, a small hill town in Umbria, would be the right home for a festival that brought together artists from both sides of the Atlantic. That is the origin of the Festival dei Due Mondi, the Festival of Two Worlds, which still fills the town with opera, theatre, dance and music every year in late June and July. The theatre that bears his name, the Teatro Nuovo, was built in the nineteenth century and is the main stage, a handsome horseshoe with gilt boxes and a painted ceiling.

   Read the complete Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti is where the day begins. Next is Monte Cimino.

2. 2. Monte Cimino

   Monte Cimino is the highest point of the Cimini hills, an old volcanic range rising to just over a thousand metres between Viterbo and the Tiber valley in northern Lazio. Its top is clothed in one of the most beautiful beech forests in Italy, unusually low for beech in this latitude, and UNESCO counts these trees among Europe's ancient beech forests. On a hot summer day, climbing into its shade from the baking plain feels like entering a cathedral.

   Read the complete Monte Cimino write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Monte Cimino comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar.

3. 3. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 154 km into the recorded legs you reach Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar. Next is back through Monte Cimino.

4. 4. back through Monte Cimino

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Monte Cimino write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Monte Cimino, late in the day. Next is Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti.

5. 5. Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti. That is the ride.