80km Sulmona-Pescocostanzo Loop
The Vella Gorge
Ride overview
Sulmona is instantly seductive; a large square through which a medieval aqueduct runs, streets paved with sampietrini (small blocks of granite), and tiny grocers selling locally farmed produce squeezed between grand baroque palazzi. And like a precious tapestry hanging from a wall in a grand home the chain of the Maiella Mountains forms a stupendous backdrop. The road from the town twists in spectacular fashion up the Vella gorge, passing on through Pacentro, one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. The easy climb is long, the views ever changing, the road devoid of any traffic. Once on the high plains, you ride through orchid rich grasslands and as the ride progresses, there are beech forests, a village built with Medici money and unforgettable descents. All this within the containment of the grey-green wall of mountains. It is a glorious ride.
Ride notes
Sulmona, the city of Ovid, destroyed in 1706 by an earthquake, and again by war in 1943, is a magnificent provincial city; small and elegant with remnants of the past scattered throughout the baroque façades. Its narrow streets are paved with sampietrini s- small square granite blocks - over which you bounce and rumble. Leaving the main square, you’re quickly out of town and riding upwards - something which you’ll be doing for the next thirty-five kilometres. But before you gulp and seek another route, know that the climbing is not arduous; most of the time the percentage sticks at around 3-4%, with only very rare and short flurries into 6%. Settle into an easy rhythm, and enjoy the spiralling hairpins and the many varied views of river, rock and trees.
The Caldera towers, Pacentro
Pacentro is one of the most ‘beautiful villages in Italy - (‘Borghi più belli d’Italia’.) If exploring is as much part of your ride as pedalling, then some time wandering the medieval quarter of this village is rewarded with streets barely wide enough to walk through and medieval homes huddled together like penguins in the Antartic. (There’s also a superb restaurant, La Caldera, but it’s too early for lunch at this stage in the ride). Riding onwards, the climb rises past the famous Caldera towers - famous in that they appear on most of Abruzzo’s promotional tourist literature. The road is an extraordinary feat of road building. There are at least twelve hairpins. You ride beside the precipitous Vella gorge - as deep and dramatic as you’d ever wish for. Scatterings of pines, manna ash, and hornbeam cling to bare rock. Hare’s bobble along the road, buzzards soar above, water chutes down pipes beside the road, gurgling loudly as it does.
Passo San Leonardo
Once at the junction for Passo San Leonardo, you turn right and in spring, you’ll ride through meadows crammed with buttercups or further on there’s a grassy plain crammed with a dazzling display of orchids. To your left, rise the impregnable slopes of the Maiella, grey and forbidding, and ahead is the precipitous ridge of Mt. Porarra. Mountains fold away to your right in waves. It’s magical up here, wild and rugged. Even in the height of the 'tourist season’ you’re most likely to be alone. Riding this route on a mid-spring day, I was passed by two motorbikes and one car - from below Pacentro to Pescocostanzo, about 44km of almost traffic-free cycling. On hot summer days, it is the same. I have the road always to myself.
Campo di Giove
Soon, after some glorious downhill - watch out for the gravel on the corners - you ride past Campo di Giove and up towards some very ugly Residences along with a ski lift which never works, and onto another steady climb to the Valico Forchetta (1385m). To your right is the Field of Jupiter, patterned with pasture, juniper bushes, beech trees and a small quarry.
Altipiano di Santa Chiara
The only level ground in the whole of Abruzzo are the ‘altipiani’. These high, flower strewn, grass rich high-altitude plains are entirely enclosed by the chains of grey-green mountains. To emerge onto them having travelled confined by grey rock gorges, one feels that one can breathe again. Wild narcissus, peonies, orchids and a book’s worth of other flora are scattered across them. After the long climb and rapid descent from Valico Forchetta, you arrive on the Santa Chiara, the altipiano, where cattle graze the rich grass. Dotted along the road are the masserias. Farmhouse does not adequately describe the large blunt buildings, but that is what they are; farmers, their families and their animals hunker down inside them for the long winter months.
Pescocostanzo
Pescocostanzo, another of the ‘Borghi più belli d’Italia’, made its name and fortune as a wool town in Medieval times. The Florentine Medici controlled Abruzzo’s enormous the wood trade and the town was an important trading station. The buildings are grander than any other town in Abruzzo. Da Paulino is a great restaurant to re-fuel at, but if it’s a Monday, or they are full, the next recommended stop is at Il Faggeto in a further eight (flat) kilometres.
The route passes through the Bosco di San Antonio, with it’s centuries old beeches. In winter it’s a favoured cross-country ski area, in summer a destination picnic spot. In spring, it’s yours alone to share with songbirds. The air is soft under the fresh green leaves. Forest bathing at its most luxuriant. The serendipity is enhanced because from here the road is downhill all the way to the end.
The road to Cansano
The route back to Sulmona is one of the best downhills in Abruzzo. There are only a couple of hairpin bends to make you reach for the brakes - otherwise, it’s chin on the handlebars, cheeks pressed by the wind, and a grin the size of your front wheel. It’s a joyous way to end a superlative ride.
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