Week 5 – The Heartland Of Italy

Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th April

Mon 22nd & Tues 23rd – Spoleto – 175k

There was still a lot of white stuff on the mountains to the north and east which meant that the SS17Bis up into the high plains of the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga was closed. Which was a pity because it is a lovely ride through there. We’d ridden it in 2016 and stayed at Santo Stefano di Sessanio and stopped at Campo Imperatore on the way. But it wasn’t to be this time.

So instead we headed north to Assergi and turned left along the southern edge of the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso and crossed the range on it’s western end at the Passo delle Capannelle. This is a great ride with a terrific surface and endless corners.

On to Montereale where we picked up the SP19 and eventually ended up in Cittareale where they have La Rocca, a medieval fortress from the 13th century of King Manfred of Swabia which incorporates some Roman ruins.

La Rocca

It’s all pretty isolated through here with the roads deteriorating so we turned left and picked up the SP11 that took us down and ever downwards with rain threatening.
We dropped into Labro and the 10th century Castello Nobili Vitelleschi.

Pinched from Google – Labro with its Castello Nobili Vitelleschi.

We only had 40ks to go to Spoleto but it looked wet so we togged up in our wets – which means we pulled on our Dianese pants because we already wear totally waterproof Oxford jackets. It’s a good thing we did because the usual afternoon spring downpour beat us by 10 minutes.

We negotiated the twisting and narrow and steep streets to find our comfortable apartment for 2 nights.

I’ve used various sources to collect information on the towns we visit and so have set up our own self-guided walking tours that take in most of a town’s sights.
A walking tour of Spoleto.

Wed 24th – Cortona – 180k

The weather was looking iffy from the outset so we donned our wets early, then headed north. Now we Melbourne-ites complain about our myriad of ‘safety’ cameras. Welcome to Spoleto’s flash for cash – we would have passed 20 of them on the 6klm stretch out of town. Good thing for TomTom.

North through beautiful Umbrian countryside to the historic small hill town of Montefalco.

There were a bunch of men pruning the olives trees in the foreground of this pic.

We turned south west and stopped in the hilltop town of Todi where we sat in the central Piazza del Popolo with its medieval buildings and had a coffee.

Todi from a distance.

This pic gives an idea of just how steep these streets are. I capture scenes like this off my GoPro

Piazza del Popolo

The 12th century Caetani Tower.

Church of Saint Mary of Consolation

We continued SW to the small hilltop village of Civitella del Lago where we stopped and made lunch of local bread with cheese, ham, tomatoes and the best of Italian olive oil. You can’t beat that.
The town overlooks Lake Corbara, an artificial lake on the course of the river Tiber.

Looking west where there’s threatening weather.

We’re now heading north and dodging thunderstorms but we’re going to get got sooner or later. Through Città della Pieve.

I’m not sure where this is, I just took a quick GoPro grab on our way past. I remember that just to the west of us, our left, the rain is belting down so I know it’s just south of Castiglione del Lago on the southwest corner of Lake Trasimeno, which is where the rain caught us.

But it was only 20klms to Tuscany’s beautiful 8th century BC Cortona which is one of our favourite places. We stayed here in 2019, and actually in the same place.

We took a stroll. Well, in these towns it’s more like a mountain climb. Steep street and a multitude of medieval stairs makes it more of an endurance exercise.

Today is Thursday 25th of April, a public holiday, and the day Italy celebrates their WW2 Victory/Liberation Day which is probably a bit of an oxymoron from some points of view. Anyway, they’ve still got lots of left over Yank Jeeps and there were dozens of them on display in Cortona. As you can see, these guys take this pretty seriously.

Thur 25th – Siena – 90k

This pic of the town cemetery as we left Cortona.

The sun is shining and after a very late start we head west. First stop is Monte San Savino where we stopped for coffee and a small danish while we sat in the sun and watched the world go by. There were lots of bikers around today, out enjoying there public holiday and fine weather.

Those roses smelt exquisite. Which is how all roses should smell. I’m not sure about you but I can’t walk past a rose without taking a sniff.

Now if you haven’t noticed I’ve got lots of pics of City Gates. Last trip I did Bridges. This time I’m doing Gates and believe me there’s lots of them. It gives you an idea of just how insecure life was back in dim dark ages.

And Siena has more than its fair share. We did a loop of the city on our way in and snapped these.

All these gates, and there’s a few more, are pretty impressive.

We found our way into the city central area where our brand new apartment awaited us a mere 30mtrs from the main Piazza del Campo.
As I said, today is a public holiday, and it seems that the whole of Tuscany is promenading around Piazza del Campo. I’m talking packed. And all stopping to chat, take pictures and then look at those pictures. Now this is a pet hate of mine – take the picture or 5 of them if you want, but don’t then just stand there and check them out – I want to take a picture as well, and I don’t want you in it!!! There, now I’ve got that off my chest.

Siena has other things to see as well.

Piazza del Campo

Fri 26th – Siena Loop Ride – 90k

Today isn’t a public holiday but I’m figuring that most of Italy have made it into a long weekend because everyone is out and about and visiting the 2 local tourist attractions of Monteriggioni and San Gimignano. We joined the throng.

Monteriggioni for an expensive coffee.

And famously popular San Gimignano.

We headed home via some remote roads that took us past La Rocca di Staggia.

A most enjoyable day. And today being Friday, we all know what that means, and in Siena there’s a Gelatoria on every corner.

Sat 27th – Arezzo – 100k

There was nothing special about todays ride. It’s only about an hour by freeway, but we’re not doing that are we. It’s obviously still a long weekend as the roads that we rode were mainly being travelled by bikers. And I can understand why – there were plenty of curves.

We dropped in to the 6th century fortress town of Civitella in Val di Chiana hoping to score a coffee. But there was nothing open – what is this? An Italian town without an open café is a bit like an Aussie town without a pub.

So we left and headed for Arezzo where we found parking right outside of our 3rd story apartment, which is actually 4 – more steps.
We checked in and did our mountain climbing exercises for the day as we checked out the sites.

Arezzo has a Porto or gate as well. This is inside the town

And from the outside.

The gate is at the bottom of town and the very impressive Fortezza Medicea is at the very top – my travel companion was not impressed with the climb. We should be pretty fit by the time we leave Italy.

Arezzo is known as the city of gold and of the high fashion, I have no idea why. But it does have some impressive things to see.

To The Grande Piazza – where we had our long awaited coffee. We’d passed through hear in 2019 and done the same thing.

Thank you Arezzo

Sun 28th – Urbino – 160k

It’s finally a beautiful day as we leave Arezzo. There are heaps of bikers out and about as we take to the remote back roads heading SE towards the 13th century Rocca di Umbertide where we had a brew.

We pushed on to Gubbio where we caught up with all the tourists who tend to take the low roads. I’m pretty sure we weren’t supposed to ride right through the centre of town but once you’re there what else can you do.

That was a pretty hectic experience for us and the tourists so we left town and moved up the road to the quiet little hamlet of Cantiano where we got 2 coffees and a cooky type thing for E3. There were 4 other people in town.

Cantiano

Then it was on to Urbino

where we parked the bike under the shadow of the Palazzo Ducale di Urbino and found our digs a mere 30mtrs from the main Piazza.

We took a walk around town – more steep streets.

And everywhere you look the skyline is dominated by the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta

And that’s it for this week. Today we head for Ancona and tonight we catch the ferry to Croatia. See you next week.