Terminillo Mountain Road

A 257 km loop

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Why this ride

Scenery first, traffic last, with checkpoints that make sense on a bike. A 257 km loop that starts and ends near Casal Palocco, about 5 h 21 of riding. The stops in between: La Massimina-Casal Lumbroso, Scenic stretch near Anguillara Sabazia and near Campagnano di Roma. in Lido di Ostia is the high point. Much of it runs through woodland.

Roadbook

1. Fuel stop near Casal Palocco fuel

   Fuel at 0 km.

2. High point in Lido di Ostia pass

   You top out here; the road stops climbing.

3. La Massimina-Casal Lumbroso finish

   La Massimina and Casal Lumbroso are not names you will find in a guidebook. They are western outskirts of Rome, just outside the great ring road, the Grande Raccordo Anulare, where the city spills into a landscape of housing estates, garden centres, warehouses and stubborn pockets of farmland. Around eleven thousand people live here, and it is a practical place to finish: close to the motorway, close to the city, with everything you need.

   It helps to know what lies around you. To the north runs the Via Aurelia, the Roman road built in the third century BC to link Rome with the coast and the north, and still one of the main arteries out of the city. To the south lies the Valle Galeria, a long valley that was once quarry country and then the site of the Malagrotta landfill, for years one of the largest in Europe, closed in 2013 after long protests. Further in, the vast park of Villa Doria Pamphili, once a noble family estate, is the largest landscaped park in Rome and a lovely place for a walk.

   The ride back from the Terminillo is the contrast that makes this ending feel sharp. A few hours earlier you were winding up through beech woods and hairpins to nearly two thousand metres above Rieti, looking at the Apennines; now you are on the Raccordo, a busy, fast ring road full of trucks, cars and scooters, where riders weave and nobody waits. Keep your wits about you, take the exits early and be ready for sudden braking. Speed cameras are common.

   As a stopping place, it is about practical comfort. There are fuel stations, bars where you can get a coffee standing at the counter for very little money, pizzerias and trattorias, and the shopping centres nearby have everything else. Trains into the city leave from nearby if someone else is taking the bike home.

   Treat it as the threshold between the open road and the city. Park up, take off the helmet, order an espresso and maybe a cornetto, and let the noise of Rome wash over you. Tomorrow the Eternal City; today, a quiet end to a long ride.

4. Scenic stretch near Anguillara Sabazia scenic

   Scenic stretch near Anguillara Sabazia, about halfway.

5. Photo stop near Campagnano di Roma photo

   Photo stop near Campagnano di Roma sits at 147 km, about halfway.

6. Near Gerano, on the way back swim

   East of Rome, past Tivoli, the land rises into the Monti Ruffi, a small range of limestone hills cloaked in chestnut and oak, with old villages perched on every ridge. Gerano, Rocca Santo Stefano and Pisoniano are among them, small places of a few hundred to a thousand people, built of grey stone around churches and the remains of medieval castles, looking out over the Aniene valley towards the higher Simbruini mountains.

   The riding here is wonderful, and almost nobody knows it. The roads climb from the valley floor in tight hairpins, then run along ridges with views on both sides, and the surface is variable, from smooth new asphalt to cracked and patched tarmac with gravel in the bends. Traffic is light, especially on weekdays, and the air at six or seven hundred metres is cooler than in Rome. Spring, with wildflowers, and autumn, with chestnuts falling on the road, are the best seasons. Watch for wild boar, goats and the occasional slow farm vehicle.

   For water, the place to go is Subiaco, a short ride up the Aniene valley. There, below the town, the river forms the Laghetto di San Benedetto, a green pool beneath a small waterfall, where locals swim on hot summer days. The water is cold and clear, coming from the mountains, and the setting, with rocks and woods all around, is magical. Go early on a weekday in July or August; on weekends it gets crowded.

   Subiaco is also where St Benedict lived as a hermit at the end of the fifth century before founding his order, and the monasteries he inspired are still there: Santa Scolastica, and above it the Sacro Speco, built into the cliff around the cave where he prayed, with frescoes covering every wall. Even if you are not religious, the place is extraordinary. Closer to Gerano, Olevano Romano is known for its red wine, made from the Cesanese grape, and for the nineteenth-century painters who came here to paint the light.

   For fuel and services, Olevano Romano, about seven kilometres away, is the nearest town of more than five thousand people, and Subiaco also has stations. The villages have small bars and shops, but opening hours are short, so plan ahead. The ride back to Rome follows the valley road and then the busy Via Tiburtina or the motorway.

7. Food stop in Cave food

   A break here at 220 km.

8. Back to Terminillo finish

   The suburbs here were built in the twentieth century, with gardens and villas in the shade of tall umbrella pines, and the atmosphere is leafy and a little dated, like a resort for families who had cars before most people did. This is the end of a ride from Terminillo, and it is an easy ride in, mostly straight and quick.

   What lies around is the interesting part. A few kilometres south-west is the Castel Porziano estate, a huge stretch of Mediterranean forest and dune that belongs to the Italian presidency and is mostly closed to the public, where cork oak, holm oak and pine shelter wild boar and deer, and the coastline is one of the last stretches of unspoilt sand near Rome. Beyond the pines of Castelfusano is the sea, and to the north is the old Roman port town of Ostia Antica, with its theatre, shops and apartment blocks, one of the best-preserved Roman towns anywhere.

   The road is a dull pleasure. The Colombo is a wide dual carriageway with fast cars, many traffic lights and heavy summer traffic of families heading to the beaches on Sundays. Take care at the junctions, where scooters cut across and roots from the pines have buckled the surface at the edges. The side roads are quiet and shaded, and the sea air is noticeably cooler, which in summer is a relief. In winter the beach towns are almost empty, and a ride out to the sea for a coffee and a sunset is a pleasant detour.

   You are in a district of more than thirty thousand people, so fuel, shops and restaurants are everywhere. On the way to the coast, many roadside places grill fish or serve fried seafood, and a paper cone of fried anchovies is a good snack. Be careful of the speed cameras on the Colombo, which are common, and keep to the limits. Take your time over the last kilometres, and let the pines and the smell of the sea clear your head.

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