07_Tour_Italy

The Route

Complete map of the Italy route from GPS data.

Map courtesy of UMAP. Kudos to OSMAnd for not dying on me like my Garmin Edge 810 did near Palinuro.

Political Geography

Regions and countries visited on the bike include: Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Campania, Puglia, Molise (can confirm, it does exist!), Abruzzo, Lazio and the Vatican, Toscana, Umbria, Marche and San Marino, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Trentino – Alto Adige, Lombardia (the short bit on the saddle of the Stelvio, but it still counts!), Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria.

That is 15 of 20 Italian regions visited, not bad a result from a completist POV.

Milestones

The route was layed out to incorporate three major climbs: Mt. Etna, Cima Blockhaus, and the Stelvio pass. Those were the main “anchors” around which the remainder of the route was designed, with places of cultural significance: Segesta, Pompeii, Rome, Ravenna etc. determining the details.

Some selected climbs:

Etna, Rifugio Sapienza, 1910 m, Sicilia. – Legendary. This should not require further explanation.
Aspromonte, Montalto, ca. 1300 m, Puglia. - The only climb I had to back down from due to incessant rain. Next time around I’ll have to go all the way up to 1900 m.
La Maiella, Cima Blockhaus, 2068 m, Abruzzo. – The highest altitude climb in Italy south of the Alps. 50 km. from sea level to the summit.
Siena, Via Santa Caterina, 339 m, Toscana. – Just 85 m altitude but nevertheless one of the most spectacular climbs in the country with 700 m at a gradient of 10-15 %.
Il Carpegna, 1415 m, Marche. – A gem of a quiet, tough climb just around the corner from San Marino. It was enough for Pantani anyways.
Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Rifugio Auronzo, Trentino-Alto Adige, 2320 m. – Without a doubt the hardest climb I ever rode. The final kilometers average around 15 % gradient. I’m sure the superb countryside would have made up for it if it hadn’t been for the lousy weather.
Passo dello Stelvio, Trentino-Alto Adige, 2758 m. — Second highest pass in the Alps, enough said.

And some of the POIs visited:

Segesta, Sicily. The Greek hillfort with its exceptionally well preserved temple.
Valle dei Tempi, Agrigento, Sicily. Home of Empedokles.
Vizzini, Sicily. Where Cavalleria Rusticana takes place, both the short story and the opera.
Pompeii, Campania.
Reggia di Caserta, Campania. Bourbon extravaganza.
The Via Appia which I followed from Caserta to Benevento and south of Rome.
Benevento, Campania. Where Horace had a pitiful meal of roasted meager poultry. I had pizza so no complaints.
Tivoli, Lazio. A bunch of temples and palaces built around an ensemble of waterfalls. No surprise it was a famous sightseeing location even in ancient times.
Rome, Lazio. Unsurpassed.
Siena, Toscana. Stunning even without a bike race going on.
Arezzo, Umbria. Like a small scale Siena but kinda hard to navigate on market day due to droves of Dutch tourists.
Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna. Unfortunately the Mausoleum was closed that day.
Venice, Veneto. Well I caught a glimpse at it from the lagoon. Reportedly cyclists aren’t exactly well received there.
Auronzo, Veneto. Idyllic place in the mountains but rather cramped with hikers.
Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige. Last larger town before the ultimate challenge of the Stelvio.
Davos, Graubünden. The roads are paved with gold there, believe me.

… and many, many more. The density of historically or culturally significant places is mindboggling in Italy.

Data

The data confirm that on the road Italy is as mountainous as it appears on the maps:

Counting from the Grande Partenza in Palermo, I enjoyed 27 days of riding, plus one “rest day” walking around in Pompeii in the 35 degrees heat.
Total distance traveled: 3378 km, daily average: 125 km. A bit shorter than usual thanks to ludicrous amount of climbing.
A whopping total of 44478 m altitude gain. Which is a daily average of 1647 m, or slightly more than one Ventoux from Bédoin per day. And that includes the short ride of day 1 where I didn’t do much more than rolling off the boat in Palermo to the nearest campsite.
Day 13 was the longest, 183 km from Benevento to Mattinata on the Gargano peninsula. In the glaring 40 degrees heat of the Apulian plains. Takes the term “endurance” to a whole new level. Followed by day 21, from Siena to Carpegna, a 174 km tour de force with long stretches of gravel at altitude.
Day 27 had the most climbing by a large margin, with both the Stelvio and the Ofenpass on the route. An absolutely leg crushing experience. 10/10, would suffer through again. Second on the list is day 16, with 2867 m of altitude gain including the 50 km sea-to-summit ride from the Adriatic to the Cima Blockhaus. Day 5 comes third with 2824 m thanks to Mt. Etna which I too climbed from sea level in Catania. Interestingly these three hardest days also correspond to the major climbs I built the route around!

All in all a well spent four weeks, and still much more places to see the next time around.

Details

Week 1

2021-07-11 d01: Palermo → Isola delle Femmine 18 km, 169 m
2021-07-12 d02: Isola delle Femmine → Calatafimi Segesta 82 km, 1423 m (walked: 3.8 km, 212 m)
2021-07-13 d03: Calatafimi Segesta → San Leone 140 km, 2148 m
2021-07-14 d04: San Leone → Licodia Eubea 141 km, 1650 m
2021-07-15 d05: Licodia Eubea → Calatabiano 152 km, 2824 m
2021-07-16 d06: Calatabiano → Reggio di Calabria 76 km, 999 m
2021-07-17 d07: Reggio di Calabria → Nicotera 116 km, 2288 m

Week 2

2021-07-18 d08: Nicotera → Guardia Piemontese 132 km, 968 m
2021-07-19 d09: Guardia Piemontese → Palinuro 148 km, 1607 m
2021-07-20 d10: Palinuro → Pompeii 145 km, 1454 m
2021-07-21 d11: Pompeii (walked: 12.4, 339 m)
2021-07-22 d12: Pompeii → Benevento 121 km, 1212 m
2021-07-23 d13: Benevento → Mattinata 183 km, 1600 m
2021-07-24 d14: Mattinata → Torre Mileto 103 km, 1580 m

Week 3

2021-07-25 d15: Torre Mileto → Francavilla al Mare 148 km, 799 m
2021-07-26 d16: Francavilla al Mare → Pratola Peligna 116 km, 2867 m
2021-07-27 d17: Pratola Peligna → Tivoli 135 km, 1727 m
2021-07-28 d18: Tivoli → Girardi 92 km, 799 m
2021-07-29 d19: Girardi → Bolsena 116 km, 1757 m
2021-07-30 d20: Bolsena → Siena 128 km, 1916 m
2021-07-31 d21: Siena → Carpegna 174 km, 2608 m

Week 4

2021-08-01 d22: Carpegna → Lido di Pomposa 166 km, 1600 m
2021-08-02 d23: Lido di Pomposa → Cavallino 97 km, 557 m
2021-08-03 d24: Cavallino → Auronzo di Cadore 166 km, 1718 m
2021-08-04 d25: Auronzo di Cadore → Schabs 120 km, 2190 m
2021-08-05 d26: Schabs → Prato allo Stelvio 131 km, 1301 m
2021-08-06 d27: Prato allo Stelvio → Zernetz 82 km, 3345 m
2021-08-07 d28: Zernetz → Bregenz 150 km, 1372 m