32km Passo Lanciano
The flanks of the Maiella
Ride Overview
The hungry land
If you are looking for a blast of a ride, where there’s a good amount of climbing and some fabulous off-road down-hilling on wide and non-technical tracks, then this is just the thing. Much of the climbing is on road surfaces - although its generous to refer to the surface on the climb up from the start at Serramonacesca as a ‘road surface’. Having ridden across the flank of the mountain, the way to the pass is on a nice, smooth road from where the views are worth stopping for. After a break at La Baita, the descent through the thin-soiled land is on a wide and firm track, and the temptation to push your limits is strong. Above all, it’s the views and the many abandoned ‘capanne’, (stone huts) which make this ride. Until the early twentieth century, everywhere on this ride was farmland. However, the soil was so poor and the harvests so meagre that most of the ‘contadini’ emigrated across the Atlantic. The result for the cyclist is a ride through a wild, mystical and golden land.
Ride Practicalities
As ever in the summer months water is an issue. Fountains dry up. So ensure you leave Serramonacesca with full bottles as the next water stop is likely to be at the top of Passo Lanciano.
START/FINISH: Parking on the via Roccamontepiano DISTANCE: 33km TOTAL ASCENT: 1236m TERRAIN AND SURFACES: The climb/descent to Serramonacesa is very gravelly on the corners, a smooth road takes you up to Passo Lanciano. The remainder of the ride is on wide sterrata tracks with loose stones LINKS TO OTHER RIDES:
WHAT TO SEE/VISIT: The Abbey San Liberatore a Maiella, the stone conical huts along the route, many of which are well preserved. You could spend a night in one!
Ride notes
Serramonacesca is a typical Abruzzi village - modern and undistinguised houses, mix with one of the region’s oldest and most beautiful churches. It’s setting is wonderful, since it is nestled under the massive slopes of the Maiella mountain, with views across the hills to the sea. The same group of old men daily sit in the Bar dello Sport companionably chatting, and a withered stone lion of very ancient origin, knocks chunks out of unwary cars beside the church.
There is no prelude to the climbing. You leave the village and the climbing begins steeply on a gravelly road. A castle stands on a hill, both mystical and golden. Originally the castle was a production of Charlemagne who commissioned it to protect his lands from the marauding Saracens and today it’s reverting back to nature. It looks as if it was the sort of place where maidens were incarcerated, surrounded by dragons.
Castel Monarda
The climb up to Piana del Ginepro is stiff and the reward at the top is an Italian flag tattered by the wind, a ‘tholos’ - a conical stone hut, and a fountain which is often dry in summer. There’s a scattering of pic-nic tables too. The road becomes a sterrata - an un-metalled white road, which winds up and over the flank of the mountain. A wild country takes over from the pic-nic tables and flags as you enter the land of hunger.
The hillside is terraced, there are great piles of stones, as well as the stone huts. And all are abandoned. It was a French king, Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples who by decree broke up the great feudal estates and re-distributed land. True to form, it was those with money who bought up the choice pieces in valleys and near to villages, leaving the thin soiled mountain slopes for the peasants. For much of the 19th century, they scraped and piled stone upon stone. Some of the ‘capanne’ (‘tholos’ and ‘capanne’ are interchangeable words when describing the conical stone huts) housed animals through the winter, some were used as summer huts, for the contadini - the peasant small-holders. Farming on these slopes was beyond hard, even for these hardened people and over a million Abruzzese have emigrated away from an utterly wretched existence. There are now more Abruzzese living abroad than there are in the province itself.
A tholos or capanna
The riding is sublime, views across mountain ranges, down into distant valleys, and across to the sea. The path is wide, the cycling as fast as you wish it to be. The only note of caution is that there are animals - cows and sheep - who wander the hillsides under the watchful eye of Abruzzi sheepdogs. These are big beasts. And their bark is loud and fearsome. If they are around, slow down or stop. Let them get used to you and a bike. They’ll not attack but if they may seem as if they are about to. There are fountains and troughs, around which animals can congregate, and if they’re animal free, the running mountain spring water can be a good top up for the bidon. However don’t rely on them in the summer months.
Fonte Tarica
The road up to Passo Lanciano, even in the height of summer, is quiet. The views up to the blue Maiella peaks, the respite from the bumpy tracks and the silence of the mountains is very lovely. It’s 6km to the top. Closed up ski shops, and a few cafès of which La Baita at the foot of the ski run is by far the best, populate the pass. People come on Sundays from the coast to enjoy La Baita’s arrosticini - cubes of mutton on a stick, cooked over a grill - a local speciality. And since it’s pretty much all down hill from here back to the start, it might be a good place for you to stop for lunch.
An exhilarating run from Passo Lanciano back to the Serramonacesca is one of the best in the Maiella. It is a little used track with no technical or especially steep parts, which makes it unattractive to downhill junkies and bliss for the adventure excursionist. You ride through more abandoned pastures, stone huts and terraces, with you whooping with the thrill of it. You re-join the road you cycled up from the start and race down that too - although watch for the very gravelly corners.
San Liberatore della Maiella
Charlemagne’s Frankish army beat the invading Lombards in a battle in the Avento valley in 781, after which he ordered a monastery to be built on the bloody field which was to be dedicated to the Divine Liberator. The white stoned abbey of San Liberatore a Maiella, is one of the most beautiful in Central Italy. Much of it dates back to 884. Inside it is cool, light pours in East windows and fragments of faces from the frescoes stare back at you. If you were to lock your bike, there is a footpath down to the cool bathing pools of the Alento river - an excellent place to cool off before returning to the start 2km away.
Every route on this website has been carefully researched as well as ridden. However situations on the ground can change quickly. If you know of changes to this route, or cafes, pubs and the like which you think other cyclists need to know about, feel free to share your thoughts below.
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