73km Manopello Loop
Hills and saints
Ride overview
No matter what your religious beliefs there is much on this ride which will delight and surprise, not least confronting an extraordinary mystery. It’s a wild and hilly route, filled with saints, ancient churches and deserted farmlands, all of which make for a great morning’s ride.
Outside the west door of Guardiagrele’s Duomo, our group of brightly coloured cyclists answer questions from the old men sitting against the wall on their stone benches. Where were we were going, they ask? How long will we take? Bravo!, Buon giro!, they reply. Above them, St. Christopher, is carrying a plump baby Christ across a fish-filled river, which he’s been doing since he was painted in the 15th century. One of the group notices that above his left shoulder is an idealised map of the 15th century world with two ‘A’s and an ‘E’ - Africa, Asia and Europe. America was yet unknown when the fresco was painted.
Setting off from a hill-top town means that the first part of any ride is always downhill. The recently re-tarred road to the valley floor is quiet and ruler straight. The smoothness of the surface, the warmth of the morning, the passing of flashing fields of olive trees and the private gardens filled with ripe tomatoes puts us into an exhilarated mood.
Other than a short climb to the beautiful hilltop village of Rapino, famed for its majolica pottery, we had 15km of easy downhill before the first real test of the day at Fara Filorium Petri. The via Sant’Antonio was used in the 2022 Giro, so is beautifully smooth with tarmac laid just two days before the race went up it. Ahead the Maiella mountains look benign in the morning light, the dark green slopes giving no hint of the efforts which will be required later. We cycle past fields of grain, rows of silver-leafed olive trees, and modern villas set in well-kept grounds.
At the top of climb, in the village of Roccamontepiano, we come face to face with the first saint of the day, San Rocco. He is dressed as a medieval pilgrim, complete with staff, knapsack and hat. His face has a hint of smile. As the protector against epidemics and serious diseases, he has had a busy couple of years and the modern church beside this huge mural has been a place of pilgrimage and intercessions from people far and wide in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
From the village, the road descends sinuously with far reaching views over the many hills between us and the glinting blue sea beyond. We descend fast towards Serramonacesca, ride on country roads which are never flat, before climbing the final ten-percenter for one kilometre in order to come face to face with Christ.
Inside the Church of the Volto Santo is what many believe to be the true face of God. Above the altar, is an imprint of a man’s face on a piece of fine sea-silk cloth. He stares back with resigned eyes and with a mouth half closed as if he struggles for breath through pain. There’s bruising around the eyes, blood stains, a broken nose and spaces on the cheek and above the lip where tufts of hair have been removed by fists.
The face of Christ? (Il volto Santo)
For over 400 years pilgrims have have travelled from distant lands to pray before the veil. The faithful believe it was the veil used by Veronica to wipe the face of Christ as he staggered towards his execution, after which, an image of Christ miraculously appeared on the cloth. Since 1728, Catholics have been granted absolution from all sins by visiting this relic. For the sceptical, the cloth maybe the world’s first photograph - a suburban legend states that Leonardo da Vinci created it - or it may just be an extraordinary painting. Whatever it is, to see it is to be awed in some way by its mystery. To read more about the Volto Santo, click here.
We have a coffee in the cafe attached to the church, after which we ride on in reflective silence, not least because the four and half kilometres of double digit climbing prevents any kind of chat. On either side of the road are abandoned fields which are being reclaimed by the forest. Life has always been hard here, and many have given up and emigrated away from the thin-soiled land.
Arriving out of the woods, we re-group beside a large iron cross and a crumbling tholos, a round stone hut where in former times, the farmer spent his summer nights. Around us, is a land of rough meadows covered in dry grass and prickly plants. I’d assured the group that there would be water from the fountain beside the tholos, but this hot summer has dried up the spring.
Tholos above Seramonacesca
We wind our way down on the loose gravel road, both challenged and entertained in equal measure. At the bottom of the descent, deeply hidden in a steep and heavily wooded valley, we divert briefly to one of the jewels of Central Italy, the 1000+ year old Abbazzia di San Liberatore a Maiella. Parking out bikes outside the church, we sit awhile in the cool and quiet, surrounded by unadorned walls of white Maiella stone. Chairs still had tuille tied on them from last week’s wedding and white flowers wilted in the vases. Surrounding us was a silence of stone.
Abbazia di San Liberatore a Maiella, Seramonacesca
Rested and certainly cooler, we head for home, not before re-filling our water bottles in the village. The road is well surfaced and undulating and winds around the foot of the Maiella Mountain. We pause on corners to enjoy the views over to the sea across the harvested fields and we are grateful for the cool shaded woods which will protect us from the summer sun.
Guardiagrele is not only listed as one of the most beautiful borghi (towns) in the whole of Italy, it is nationally famous for its iron work and for the sanctuary of San Nicola il Greco. The relics of San Nicola rested in Prata in Calabria until 1343, when it was stole by the Count of Manopello and brought to Guardiagrele. We decided that we needed to see a real saint still lying after several hundred years in his glass box. He’s the very model of a tired old man in repose; one hand rests on a bible, the other fiddles with a rosary. There’s a unsettling morbid fascination with seeing a dead person - albeit that there is more plaster than flesh in that box.
S. Nicola il Greco, Guardiagrele
Back outside the west door of Guardiagrele’s Duomo, the old men were still chatting underneath St. Christopher, who we noted had still not crossed the river whilst we were away.
Over lunch, we dissect the route, with each person highlighting the wild countryside, a climb, or the gravelly descents, but overall, it was the haunting face staring back at us in Manopello, which we thought would live longest in the memory.
Ride Practicalities
START/FINISH: Cattedrale Collegiata di Santa Maria Maggiore, Guardiagrele
DISTANCE: 73km. TOTAL ASCENT: 1800m TIME NEEDED: 2.5 - 3 hours TERRAIN AND SURFACES: The roads are in pretty good condition, other than the first half of the descent into Serramonacesca. The roads are very quiet even in the height of summer. FOOD/COFFEE: Pattabom, Via Roma, Guardiagrele. WHAT TO SEE: Guardiagrele; Cattedrale Collegiata di Santa Maria Maggiore, the fresco of Saint Christopher on its north wall (painted before the Europeans’ arrival in America), the shrine of S. Nicola il Greco, Chiesa S. Francesco, Roccamontepiano; the fresco of S. Rocco
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