Vatican City and Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Vatican City 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 106 km into the recorded legs. Next is Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti.

3. 3. 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

   about 187 km into the recorded legs you reach Teatro Nuovo Gian Carlo Menotti. 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 Vatican City.

5. 5. Vatican City

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Vatican City write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Vatican City. That is the ride.