Umbria Assisi Ridge Roads

3 passes in 341 km, topping out at 1780 m

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Why this ride

Built for flow, views and useful stops rather than navigation busywork. A 341 km loop that starts and ends near Rome, about 6 h 12 of riding. On the way it passes Narni and Assisi.

Roadbook

1. Rome start

   Rome is the end of the line for the Mille Miglia, or at least the halfway mark, because the old race ran out from Brescia to Rome and back again, a thousand Italian miles in all, which is where the name comes from. It ran from 1927 until 1957, mostly through towns and villages with the roads left open and crowds standing at the kerb, and the drivers flew down the Via Cassia and through the Apennine passes at speeds that make the whole thing seem barely believable now. It ended after a crash in 1957 that killed spectators, and was later revived as a rolling classic-car parade, which still comes through Rome every spring.

   Riding in Rome itself needs a particular frame of mind. The streets are old, narrow and often cobbled with the little black basalt blocks called sampietrini, which are slippery when wet and punishing on a heavy bike. Scooters pour past on both sides, buses own the bus lanes, and drivers use their horns as punctuation. Much of the historic centre is a restricted traffic zone, the ZTL, where entry without a permit earns a fine by camera, and motorcycles are not exempt in every area, so check before you go and park outside it. The ring road, the GRA, is fast, busy and sometimes badly surfaced.

   The reward is that few cities pay you back so well for the trouble. Early morning, when the streets are washed and empty, the Colosseum and the Forum seem to have been waiting for you. A few hundred metres from the Vatican, the dome of St Peter's rises over a skyline of pines, domes and terracotta roofs. The Appian Way, built in 312 BC, still runs south from the city with its old basalt paving, tombs and cypress trees, and it is one of the finest places in Italy for a slow ride on a Sunday, when parts of it are closed to cars.

   There is no problem finding petrol, food or coffee, since a city of over two million does not run short, and a coffee taken standing at a bar for a euro or so is one of the pleasures of Italian life. Try carbonara, cacio e pepe or supplì, and keep away from restaurants that put photographs of the dishes on the door.

   Spring and autumn are best, as summer heat is severe and August half-empties the city, with many places closed.

2. Narni fuel

   In Latin the town was called Narnia, and C. S. Lewis is widely believed to have taken the name for his magical land from an old atlas where he found it. Whether or not that is true, Narni has embraced the connection, and it does have something of a storybook quality: a medieval hill town perched on a rocky spur above the gorge of the Nera river, with towers, churches, narrow streets and a fortress on the summit. Some claim it is the geographical centre of Italy, and a monument in the valley marks the spot.

   Below the town, the remains of the Ponte d'Augusto, a huge Roman bridge that carried the Via Flaminia across the Nera, stand in the river, a single great arch still intact. Beneath the town, a group of local explorers found a series of underground rooms, including a cell used by the Inquisition, with graffiti scratched into the walls by prisoners; tours of Narni Sotterranea are fascinating. The condottiero Erasmo da Narni, better known as Gattamelata and immortalised in Donatello's equestrian statue in Padua, was born here.

   The Nera gorge east of Narni is a beautiful stretch of road, winding along the river between steep, wooded slopes, towards Terni. Beyond Terni, the Cascata delle Marmore is one of the highest waterfalls in Europe, created by the Romans in the third century BC to drain a marshy plain, and its flow is still controlled today, turned on and off according to a timetable for hydroelectric power. Seeing the water released is a spectacular sight.

   Narni has fuel and services in the lower town of Narni Scalo, and bars and restaurants in the old town. The roads around Narni are excellent for riding, winding through the hills of southern Umbria, with olive groves, oak woods and small villages, and fine views at every turn. The approach to the old town is steep and twisty, with narrow streets at the top, so it is best to park below and walk up. Summers are hot; spring and autumn are perfect.

3. Assisi food

   From the valley floor Assisi looks like a long pale ribbon draped across the lower slope of Monte Subasio, and the colour comes from the mountain itself. The town is built of Subasio stone, a limestone that ranges from cream to rose, and in the evening light the whole place glows pink. It is, of course, the town of Francis, the merchant's son who gave away everything in the early thirteenth century and founded the Franciscan order, and of Clare, who followed him. The great basilica built over his tomb, begun in 1228, has two churches one above the other, and the frescoes inside, including the cycle of the saint's life traditionally attributed to Giotto, changed the course of European painting.

   In 1997 an earthquake brought down part of the vault of the upper church, killing four people inside, and the restoration that followed, piecing together tens of thousands of fragments, is a story of extraordinary patience. Down on the plain, Santa Maria degli Angeli is an enormous later basilica built around the Porziuncola, the tiny chapel where Francis began his community and where he died.

   For riding, the Umbrian valley around Assisi is gentle and pretty, but the real treat is Monte Subasio. A road climbs from the town past the Eremo delle Carceri, the hermitage where Francis went to pray, and on up through woods onto the open grassy top of the mountain, then down towards Spello or Collepino. It is narrow, with tight bends and some rough patches, and the views over the valley towards Perugia and the Apennines are superb. Elsewhere, the roads to Gualdo Tadino and Nocera Umbra climb into quieter, greener hills, and south past Spello and Foligno you reach the Fonti del Clitunno and its little Lombard-era temple.

   The historic centre of Assisi is a limited traffic zone, so leave the bike at one of the car parks below the walls and walk; the lanes are steep and the paving can be slippery when wet. Santa Maria degli Angeli has fuel and supermarkets, and the town has plenty of trattorias. Try strangozzi, thick hand-rolled pasta often served with black truffle or a simple tomato sauce, and a glass of Sagrantino from Montefalco, on the hill across the valley.

4. Rome finish

Where this sits

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