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.
256 km from Ariccia to Ariccia, about 4 h 29 of riding. On the way it passes Properties of the Holy See in that City En, Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar, Tarquinia and back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar. Rolling hill country.
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 35 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
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 is where the day begins. Next is Properties of the Holy See in that City En.
The Vatican is the world's smallest state, and you ride in and out of it without noticing. The line between Italy and the Holy See is marked on the pavement of St Peter's Square, and the entire country covers less than half a square kilometre, with fewer than a thousand residents. What UNESCO listed, together with the properties of the Holy See in Rome beyond the walls, is a great collection of art and architecture: the basilica built over the supposed tomb of the apostle Peter, the dome that Michelangelo designed, Bernini's colonnade, and the Sistine Chapel and its ceiling, painted in the early sixteenth century.
Read the complete Properties of the Holy See in that City En write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Properties of the Holy See in that City En comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar. Next is Tarquinia.
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, about halfway. 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.
back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar sits at 173 km, about halfway. Next is back through Properties of the Holy See in that City En.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Properties of the Holy See in that City En write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Properties of the Holy See in that City En comes up about 228 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Via Appia across Alban Hills.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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 closes the day.
The Via Appia across Alban Hills → Properties of the Holy See in that City En is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Properties of the Holy See in that City En → Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar → Tarquinia is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tarquinia → back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tar → back through Properties of the Holy See in that City En is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Properties of the Holy See in that City En → The Via Appia across Alban Hills is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.