101km Gran Sasso d'Italia
Campo Imperatore
Apennine’s highest climb
Ride overview
The formidable mountain massif of Italy’s spine should be more famous and better known than it is, certainly for cyclists outside Italy. The roads are all but deserted, the mountain scenery spectacular, the climbing always challenging. This route, beginning at what is claimed to be the clearest water in Europe at Capo d’acqua, passes the highest castle in Italy and finishes at the end of the peninsula’s highest road. Unseen and 1400m beneath your wheels is the world’s largest underground laboratory, but the highlight has to be the ride over Little Tibet, the high altitude plain which extends for over 14km, from where Mussolini was ‘rescued’ by the Nazis after the country’s surrender to the allies in 1943. It is a ride of superlatives - highest, longest (climb on the Italian peninsula), deepest, most beautiful (the small towns through which you pass have been accredited as some of the ‘most beautiful towns in Italy’).
Ride notes
In September 1943, after the successful invasion of the south of Italy by the Allies, Benito Mussolini was deposed and fled to the remote high plains of the Apennines to await his fate. A crack Gestapo unit set out in gliders to rescue him, landing on Campo Imperatore and storming the hotel where he was holed up. After 23km of stiff uphill riding, and arriving at the foot of the final push to the hotel and Observatory, it seems incredible that in a place so remote, so challenging to get to that such historic events could happen up here. The great plain is often referred to as Little Tibet due to its remoteness and altitude. In spring it’s covered in flowers, including rare orchids, and in summer, it’s grazed by sheep and horses. As an atmospheric place to ride a bike, it’s hard to beat.
Campo Imperatore
The route begins at Capo d’Acqua, often cited as having the clearest waters in Europe. The small lake just outside the village attracts divers from all over the world. However, that is not the attraction for us today, as ahead zig-zagging up the hill in front of you, is a wonderful road. Sometimes it’s used by the Giro d’Italia, most recently in 2023, and the TV shots of the peloton struggling up its bends is aways spectacular viewing.
The Tirino Valley,
After 17km of uphill struggle, you ride through Calascio, one of three small towns on the ride, all of whom were controlled by the Medicis of Florence during the height of their powers. Wool has always been an important staple of Abruzzo, none more so than in the medieval times and the bankers of Florence had a strict control over it. You’ll see on the crest of the ridge, the castle which protected their lands and is the highest in Italy.
Rocca Calascio, Italy's highest castle
The climb lessens a little as you ride towards Santo Stefano di Sessanio, another of the Medici towns. It has been extensively restored in the recent past, by the Swedish-Italian millionaire Daniele Kihlgren. Many of the old houses have been converted into luxury rooms and making it a fabulous place to stay.
S. Stefano di Sessanio
From the village, the climb over the chain of mountains which enclose the Emperor’s Field averages around 7% for just under 9km, before a sweeping and gorgeous descent onto the plain itself. On the left is a solitary dwelling, where some of the best pecorino (sheep) cheese in Italy is made and sold in summer. I’ve never knowingly passed it without stopping, just to add balast for the continuing climb up the hill, you understand!
The plain was described by Daniel Freibe as a ‘vast, verdant swathe backed by sharp, grey pinnacles.’ Even in the height of summer, it’s largely untroubled by the motorbikes and camper vans which plague the better known climbs further north. And the weather can be capricious - it can be on a hot summer’s day in the mid 30s or 3 degrees, sometimes both in the same afternoon. It was here, as the plain rises to its climax beside the observatory, that Marco Pantani launched his famous attack into the snow and cloud, to win the stage and put himself in the leader’s pink jersey - however it was an ‘assisted win’ and he was thrown out of the race the day before it’s conclusion.
a ‘vast, verdant swathe backed by sharp, grey pinnacles.’ (Daniel Friebe
As you ride up the last few 10% kilometres towards the silver domed observatory, unseen and buried 1400m beneath your wheels is the world’s largest underground research centre. It is a huge underground complex, fitting perhaps for a James Bond film rather than a National Park. It is used for particle physics research.
Once ‘over the line’, there are a couple of cafès where food and drink can be had. The hotel is closed. Should you need it, there is a cable car which will take you and your bike to L’Aquila.
The return is just about entirely downhill, other than a short rise up to the Valico della Sera which takes you out of the enclosure of the Campo and over the guarding mountain chain. Just before the climb is the Restoro Mucciante, one of the highlights of the ride. Stop and buy some ‘arrosticini’ - cubes of herb-grazed mutton on sticks which you barbecue on the free grills outside. They sell local wines, honey and cheese too, and it makes for an unusual and very memorable stop.
A family roasting their arosticini, an Abruzzi speciality
The final kilometres are one long freewheel through Castel di Monte - which as with the other towns you’ve passed through is still recovering from the 2009 earthquake which shook the whole of the region. And down you go, to the valley floor, the temperature rising with each hairpin until you are back amongst the olives and almond groves.
Castel di Monte
Ride practicalities
This is the summer version of the ‘Little Tibet’ route, which follows a similar way, only this goes further and higher. It is a very different experience riding up to the Campo in summer, which makes it - almost - a completely different ride to the spring ride posted in May 2023.
START/FINISH: Capo d’Acqua DISTANCE: 101km TOTAL ASCENT: 2443m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: wide and good roads throughout - up to S. Stefano di Sessanio the roads are newly re-tarred (2023) Campo Imperatore: The Ristoro Mucciante is a brilliant experience - barbecuing your own meat and eating it outside surrounded by extraordinary grandeur, but there is a climb - albeit only 3 km - after lunch. Castel di Monte; Miramonti. Capestrano - Braceria Tirino - I’m told is OK. MAINLINE TRAIN SERVICES: None LINKS TO OTHER RIDES: The Gran Sasso
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