Cycling in the month of fall foliage
The colors of autumn are unparalleled and make even the darkest and grayest days shine; then if there is some ray of sunshine that reflects on the colored beds of leaves, lights of a thousand colors explode. Riding a bicycle in this period is wonderful, perhaps you need an extra layer of clothing, you have to be careful on the slippery ground, but otherwise you can enjoy views of wonderful colours.
Where to go cycling in the foliage season?
We’re just giving you some ideas with one goal: don’t leave your bike in the garage! You can go hunting for colors on the Unesco Heritage hills of Monferrato Casalese, which obtained this recognition in 2014 for the combination of the vineyard landscape and the infernot, or underground wine cellars dug into the canton stone. Here you can combine the deciduous leaves with the yellow of the white grapes of Cortese, Sauvignon or Chardonnay, or the red of the red grapes, such as Barbera and Freisa. And if you look at the rows you will discover that the leaves of the grapes that produce Grignolino red wine turn yellow in autumn, as happens with white grapes. And after cycling you can look at the landscape sitting on the big benches, that is, the giant benches scattered throughout the area.
Abruzzo boasts three national parks, a regional park and several oases, regional and state reserves, so cycling through multicoloured woods is not difficult. For a ride through brown, yellow, red and green, you can decide for a ride in the Orfento Valley, and starting from San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore, the Italian municipality with the longest name, you can visit the Museum of Fossils and Amber and pass through Abbateggio, the town of the Majella Park Nature Literature Prize. It is 22 km to Sant’Eufemia a Majella, which can be extended if you want to reach Passo San Leonardo. It is another 10 km to catch a glimpse of Monte Amaro, the second highest peak in the Apennines, at 2,793 metres.
The Sila Park offers the spectacle of the foliage of the maple, poplar, beech and chestnut woods. To see them all you can follow the circular route in the Sila Piccola which starts from the Tirivolo area near Zagarise in the province of Catanzaro, up to the suggestive Tacina valley. The itinerary is of medium difficulty and lasts 4 hours. For those who don’t know, the Giants of Sila on the Calabrian Apennines are a nature reserve where there are trees up to 45 meters high, with a 2 meter wide trunk and 350 years of age, there are over 60 specimens of larch pines and maples mountains planted in the seventeenth century by the Barons Mollo, owners of the nearby Casino, donated to the FAI in 2016.
If you take Padua “Urbs picta” UNESCO World Heritage as your destination, and the aim is to visit the wonders of Giotto’s brush, don’t forget to cycle among the foliage of the Euganean Hills where Mother Nature designed a colorful world. And after having cycled in a full immersion of chestnut and locust woods, passing by the hellebores sprouting from under the leaves, or near the streams waiting for the winter frosts, you can complete your holiday by taking a break embraced by the soothing warmth of the Abano and Montegrotto thermal baths
