Countries visited: Italy
Cycled mileage in April: 1,245.1km
Cycled mileage per country: 1,245.1km Italy
Total cycled mileage incl. April: 49,695.0km
April mileage not cycled 69.1km (Ferry, Bus, Train)
Days per country: 30d - Italy
Days cycling: 23d
Technical failures: N/A
Link to this month's route
We had finished last month in Caltagirone in the very south-east of Sicily. The forecast had been for rain but when we woke up the weather was actually sunny. We got an early start and enjoyed the loooong downhill back towards the coast. Later in the afternoon actually some clouds appeared but thankfully the weather stayed dry. Along the coast we even had a bit of tailwind and so we managed to get all the way to Agrigento, much further than we had originally thought. Agrigento is a seriously touristy affair and so we had to stay on a rather expensive camp-ground. Even though we were still super early in the season the camp-ground was well visited and we even met a fellow touring cyclist, Daniel from Switzerland. We had some good conversations but were too tired to stay up late.
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| On the way to Agrigento |
The next morning started off cloudy. Bummer! We were planning to visit the Valley of the Temples, Agrigento's main attraction and had been hoping for some sunshine. At least it stayed dry while we explored the temples. Actually they are not in a valley but instead lined up along the ridge of a hill. In sunshine the surrounding would have been spectacular but as things stood we were rather underwhelmed. Some of the temples were in remarkably good condition as they had apparently been used as churches in later centuries. Unfortunately the temples could solely be explored from the outside. Several groups of noisy students didn't help to make the visit more worthwhile either. Around noon we collected our bikes that we had left with a group of taxi drivers near the ticket office and set off. The weather improved slightly over the course of the day and when we reached Scala dei Turchi the sun briefly came out. Legend has it that pirates, commonly referred to as Turks ('Turchi'), climbed the stair-shaped rocks to raid the nearby villages. A few kilometres after the Scala dei Turchi we called it a day.
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| Valley of the Temples |
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| Scala dei Turchi |
The next morning started sunny but it wasn't long until more clouds appeared. The forecast was for 3 days of storm and so we had secured an off-season deal for accommodation in Mazara del Vallo. The ride into town was rather uneventful. We got there in the late afternoon, checked in, got our shopping done and retired into our room. In fact the weather was quite nasty the next days. Lots of rain showers and pretty gusty wind. We still managed to visit the old town and to taste all sorts of local specialities from the bakeries and supermarkets around the hotel.
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| Mazara del Vallo |
Eventually the weather cleared up and we continued to Marsala. The town is best known for the namesake wine but we were too early in the day to have a glass. Instead we walked our bikes through the old town. Right in front of the cathedral we met a couple Argentinian touring cyclists with their lovely dog. We started chatting and basically we continued chatting until the late afternoon. What a nice encounter! Ultimately we said farewell and continued. We called it a day in small village halfway between Marsala and Trapani.
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| Random cyclists' meeting in Marsala |
The next morning started with ample sunshine and it remained sunny throughout the day. Riding to Trapani was good fun as we were cycling past a vast saline and a historic salt mill. Trapani itself was another pleasant surprise. Most shops were closed as it was Sunday but strolling through the pedestrianized old town was still worthwhile. From Trapani we followed the coastline for a bit longer until we reached one of the few camp-grounds in the area that was already open. Just when we had set up our tent another touring cyclist arrived, Sandro from Switzerland. We exchanged some useful information for our respective routes and kept chatting until late.
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| Saline and salt mill on the way to Trapani |
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| Trapani old town |
The next morning we continued chatting while the last clouds disappeared. When we set off the sky was still clear. We started pretty much at sea level and were slowly huffing and puffing up the way to Erice on more than 700 metres above sea level. Soon the wind picked up and clouds were appearing. About two thirds of the way up to Erice the clouds caught up to us and for the rest of the way we were cycling through mist. First we were quite annoyed but actually the mist added a certain morbid atmosphere to the narrow alleyways and the grey stone houses of Erice. Unfortunately it also meant it was freezing cold! The way back down from Erice was particularly unpleasant with very limited visibility and icy wind. Eventually we were back in the lowlands and continued towards Castellammare del Golfo with its picturesque old town. We briefly explored the historic port but then pushed on to a nearby camp-ground where we retired into our tent after taking a well-deserved hot shower. Late in the evening another touring cyclist arrived. We tried to start a conversation twice but he couldn't be bothered to say a single word to us. He did however take pictures of our tent and our bikes. What a weird guy!
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| On the way up to Erice |
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| Erice |
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| Castellammare del Golfo |
The next morning started with clouds but we didn't think it looked like rain. We were wrong. Instead of packing away the tent first and having breakfast afterwards we had elected for reversed order. Just to have our tent drenched in a torrential rain shower while we finished our breakfast. Bummer! We waited for a bit until the tent had somewhat dried and didn't get going until after 10. The weather cleared up quite a bit over the course of the day and we easily made it to a suburb of Palermo where there was a nice camp-ground. We weren't too keen to stay in Palermo and from this camp-ground there would be public transport right into the centre of Palermo.
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| Riding towards Palermo |
We slept in the next morning but still managed to get to the nearby train station in time for the 11am train to Palermo Centrale. We had been to Palermo 4 years ago so there wasn't too much point in visiting the town in great detail. However, back in 2015 we hadn't managed to visit the nearby village of Monreale with its famous Norman cathedral. From the central train station in Palermo we took a bus up to Monreale village. Even though the distance was just a mere ten kilometres it took almost one hour to get there. The road was super narrow and steep and parked cars were often blocking the way altogether. But the effort was worth it. The cathedral was amazing. The Byzantine-style mosaics and the ornate interior seemed pretty unique to us. We spent a good three hours exploring the cathedral and the adjacent village. We also got to taste a local speciality – Pane e Panelle, chickpea fritters in a bread roll. Eventually we returned to Palermo and wandered aimlessly through town for the rest of the day. Of course we tasted some more local food when we found sort of a street food market in the old town. Sfincione, an oily, spongy variation of pizza and Pani ca Meusa, bread rolls stuffed with fried veal spleen and lung.
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| Monreale Cathedral |
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| Palermo old town |
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| Sfincione |
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| Pani ca Meusa |
The next morning we left the camp-ground early and quickly cycled past Palermo. After the Sicilian capital the traffic became less and the coastal road was nice to cycle. The weather remained sort of sunny until we reached Campofelice di Roccella. We had booked some accommodation there and wanted to get our shopping done before we checked in. Just when we were about to pack away our groceries the rain started and continued for the next hour while we found shelter near the supermarket. Eventually the weather cleared up and we rode the last kilometres to our guesthouse. The owners of the guesthouse had kindly allowed to use their address to receive a parcel from Germany. You may rightfully wonder what we would want to order from back home. After a lot of soul-searching we had made up our mind and came to the conclusion that we would aim to be back in Germany by mid-October. This would leave us with about six more months of travelling. We had long wanted to change our luggage setup and with half a year more to go we found it would be worth it. So essentially said parcel contained new bar bags and bar rolls as well as anything cages and drybags to replace our front panniers. After dumping our stuff in our room we went straight to work on the bikes. The evening as well as most of the next day was spent completing our new setup. Eventually we were done – and quite pleased with the results. The bikes looked much more sportive. We also managed to get rid of another 3-4kg of weight per bike without losing any functionality. Check out our new setup here and our kit here.
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| Leaving Palermo |
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| Yet another rain shower |
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| New setup for our bikes |
Before we left Campofelice di Roccella the next morning we cycled up to the post office and sent a giant parcel back home with all the stuff we had upgraded and replaced. Very literally a relief! From the post office we continued to Cefalù. We stopped to have a coffee at the seafront and then walked our bikes through the picturesque old town. Main attraction of Cefalù is the Norman cathedral that almost seemed like a smaller version of the Monreale cathedral to us. Cefalù is one of Sicily's main tourist destinations and just when we set off from the city we saw a group of five tourist coaches stopping at the entrance of town. Hard to imagine how overrun the old town would be in high season! In sunny weather we continued a bit further along the coast and called it a day when we reached a camp-ground in the late afternoon. We got our laundry done and chatted for a while with two German couples in their camper vans. It turned out we had met before in the south of Sicily.
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| A big box of stuff we got rid off! |
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| Our new setup |
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| Exploring Cefalù |
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| Cefalù cathedral |
In the evening clouds had appeared and during the night and the early morning we woke up from heavy rain falling onto our tent. Luckily it was sunny when we got up and our tent dried quickly. One of our camper van friends even brought us fresh coffee! What a great start of the day. Unfortunately the rest of the day wasn't equally great. After the sunny morning the afternoon was overcast and several times we had to hide out from rain showers. The coastal route would have been nice on a sunny day but even the picturesque villages along the way didn't help lifting our mood in the grey weather.
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| Riding in grey weather |
The next day the weather had changed for the better. We followed the coastline for a bit longer. In the afternoon our road left the coast and climbed through some rolling hills in a nature reserve. What a nice finale for the day. We found a nice camp-ground and bought some local cheese and wine to celebrate THREE YEARS ON THE ROAD!!!
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| Back to sunny the next day |
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| 3-year-anniversary dinner |
The wine didn't help with getting an early start the next morning. Neither did the prospect of having to cycle up from sea level to more than 1,100metres on the way to Mount Etna. At least the weather was good and the route was picturesque and virtually traffic-free. Half way up the Sella Mandrazzi pass clouds appeared but luckily there was no rain. We passed the historic village of Novara di Sicilia, stopped for a coffee and then huffed and puffed further up the mountains. Just before 4pm we reached the pass. The clouds started looking more threatening and we only stopped briefly for a picture. As we quickly descended into the valley the sun came out again. Suddenly we saw a collection of dilapidated brick houses right next to the road. The houses all looked uniform and were rather small. We concluded it had probably been a failed holiday village project. A bit further down the road we saw another similar group of houses. The access road was cordoned off and so we just cycled past. Still further down the road we came across another collection of houses. This time they were rather sophisticated-looking houses of decent size. The access road was open and so we decided to stop for some exploring. What looked like a random selection of houses turned out to be a proper village complete with a church and shops, all abandoned and in various states of decay. Judging from the architectural features we estimated the construction date to be in the 1950s. There were clearly no people around and from the main square of the village we had an excellent view of Mount Etna. After some short hesitation we figured we would camp there for the night. It was already after 5pm so we wouldn't get much further anyway. We found a secluded spot for our tent and soon we had set up camp and started preparing dinner. Etna was still covered in clouds but the forecast was for clear weather the next day and we were hoping for some good views for breakfast. Later in the evening we discovered that we even had patchy mobile reception. We researched the history of our camp spot and it turned out we were camped in Borgo Schisina the main village of the seven villages of Villagi Schisina. During an agrarian reform in the 1950s impoverished peasants were assigned lands in the hilly but fertile area around Etna. To accommodate those peasants the authorities had commissioned the construction of seven villages. Even though construction was completed by the mid-50s many of the houses in those villages were never inhabited. The design of the houses was said to be flawed. A lack of insulation, electricity and running water meant most peasants outright refused to move in. By the early 1960s most houses were completely abandoned and fell into disrepair. Only the administrative centre in the village Borgo Schisina remained in use - as sort of a holiday camp. For a short period anyway. We hadn't been able to find out when it had been abandoned but we had found graffiti dating as far back as 1982. The brick houses we had seen earlier were actually another two villages of the Villagi Schisina, Borgo Pietrapizzuta and Borgo Morfia. We figured we would cycle past some more of those villages and agreed to explore them if they were accessible.
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| Cycling up Sella Mandrazzi |
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| Done! |
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| Abandoned village Borgo Schisina |
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| Camping in Borgo Schisina |
When we woke up the next day the weather was still sort of cloudy but the clouds were moving fast and it looked as if Mount Etna would soon be fully visible. We packed up the tent and then prepared our breakfast right on the central square in front of the church. And finally, finally the clouds revealed Mount Etna! Eventually we left the village and rode further down into the valley. We actually cycled past the access road to the next village, Borgo Malfitano but the road was fenced off. We continued and found the access road to Borgo Piano Torre open. Much to our surprise some of the area was still in use, there were olive trees and a few farm houses in the vicinity that were clearly inhabited. The village itself looked abandoned even though we heard dogs barking somewhere between the ruins. We explored the old church and a few of the houses. Most were vandalized, others were locked and seemed to be used as shelters for cattle. After wondering around for an hour or so we pushed on and left the spooky Vilaggi Schisina villages behind. We briefly stopped in Francavilla di Sicilia to have a coffee and then continued towards the coast. We couldn't be bothered to cycle closer to Mount Etna as the forecast was for more clouds the next few days. We found a cheap camp-ground just short of Taormina and called it a day.
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| Finally a view of Mount Etna! |
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| Loooooong downhill towards the coast |
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| Borgo Malfitano |
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| Borgo Piano Torre |
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| Camping before Taormina |
After some raindrops during the night the sun was back when we got up the next morning. We quickly made it to the turn-off from the coastal road to Taormina. The town is on a cliff and even though it is just about 200 metres above sea level it was a slog to get there. At least it was worth it. We spend the afternoon walking our bikes through the pedestrian zone in the old part of Taormina and felt lucky we were there in low season. Even now there were tourists just everywhere. In the afternoon we cycled back down to the coast and continued towards Messina. On the way we met a Portuguese couple on a tandem and kept chatting for a good hour or so. We called it a day when we found a nice camp-ground about 30 kilometres short off Messina.
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| Exploring Taormina |
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| Another random cyclists' meeting |
Our plan for the next day was to cycle to a village around 10 kilometres before Messina where there was a ferry to mainland Italy according to our mapping apps. When we got there it turned out that ferry as only for trucks. At least that was what we understood from the Italian monologue that one of the guards held when we tried to enter the port. So we pushed on to Messina, a rather stressful ride with gradually intensifying traffic. There is more than one ferry company operating ferries from Messina to Villa San Giovanni but the first we tried wouldn't allow bicycles. We were sent to yet another terminal and finally allowed to board a ferry. The journey only took about twenty minutes and in the late afternoon we reached Calabria. We weighed our options where to go and figured cycling the coast north to Scilla would be the best idea. The coastal road had surprisingly little traffic and was rather beautiful. We reached Scilla and cycled up to the old town where we had found some cheap accommodation online. We dumped our stuff in the guesthouse and used the last daylight for a stroll through the old town and for some shopping.
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| On the ferry to mainland Italy |
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| Scilla |
The weather was super sunny the next day as we continued riding north. We followed the coast for a bit longer, but turned inland later. There were endless olive groves around us and we quite enjoyed our ride through rural Calabria. In the evening we reached Nicotera where we found a quiet camp-ground.
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| Cycling rural Calabria |
It was very windy throughout the night and in fact the forecast was for storm and gusty wind for the next two days. Also most shops were supposed to be closed for the Easter weekend and so we found ourselves another cheap accommodation in Tropea. We had been told there would be Easter processions in pretty much every town in southern Italy and we were hoping we would get to see one in Nicotera. We even waited near the main church for the service to finish but still nothing happened. In the end we just carried on towards Tropea. The wind had picked up quite a bit while we had been in town and cycling along the exposed coastal road was pretty unpleasant. At some point our road was blocked by a concrete barrier and a diversion steep up the mountains was signposted. We couldn't be bothered and pushed our bikes past the barrier. It was a rather dodgy ride. Apparently the diversion was in place as the side of the mountain was deemed insecure. It looked as if there would have been a lot of rockfalls recently and the howling wind made the scenery look even more threatening. We tried to speed up and eventually we reached a second concrete barrier and were past the diversion. Shortly later we reached Tropea. It was still too early to check in to our accommodation and so we opted for a Easter-treat and sat down in a pizzeria. In the afternoon we continued to our guesthouse.
The next day was indeed rather disgusting weather and we couldn't really be bothered to go out. We were still in a lazy mood the day after and while the weather was back to sunny we elected for another day off. We extended our stay and went for some sightseeing in Tropea. The old town was really picturesque and the monastery Santa Maria dell'Isola, located on a small peninsula, was impressive.
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| Easter-treat in Tropea |
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| A rain-intermezzo the next day... |
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| ...and back to sunny |
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| Monastery Santa Maria della'Isola |
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| View of Tropea from the sea |
Eventually it was time to say farewell to Tropea. We were invited by a host from hospitality-platform Warmshowers to stay with him in Lamezia Terme. The distance would only be about 75 kilometres but the forecast was for strong headwind. The first half of the way wasn't too bad and we easily made it to Pizzo, another picturesque village on the coast. Pizzo is famous for it's Tartufo, an ice-cream dessert in a shell of cocoa and filled with syrup. Of course we had to try it and of course it was truly delicious. Saverino, our host in Lamezia, had also recommended to visit the Chiesetta di Piedigrotta just outside of Pizzo. This small underground church was carved into the rock by shipwreck survivors in the 17th century. Decorated with dozens of statues it eventually became a church. In fact it had quite a special atmosphere to it and was totally worth the small detour. The remaining way to Lamezia was rather annoying. Even if it wouldn't have been for the headwind there just wasn't much in terms of nature along this part of the way. Once in Lamezia we had a great evening with our host and his lovely parents. Saverio showed us around the historic district of Lamezia, we got to see his parents' own olive grove that apparently yields tons of olives every other year and we tasted some local craft beer. We were also treated to some delicious home-made food and to some of the olives from the trees we had seen earlier. Delicious!
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| Tasting Tartufo in Pizzo |
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| Pizzo old town |
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| Chiesetta di Piedigrotta |
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| Evening in Lamezia Terme |
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| With our host Saverio |
The next morning we kept chatting with Saverio from breakfast until almost midday but eventually we figured we would have to get going. From Lamezia it was a long but gentle climb up to the Passo di Acquabona at 1,050 metres. The route was really beautiful. Little traffic and lush green forest everywhere. We could have pushed on to Cosenza but when we found a nice camping spot between some rolling hills we decided to call it a day. We laid out our groundsheet and relaxed for a while in the warm sunshine. Only when the sun was about to set behind the mountains we set up camp. What a great day!
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| On top of Passo di Acquabona |
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| Spectacular camping spot |
We woke up to the sound of raindrops on our tent the next morning. The rain soon ended but it was still super misty. We didn't have to go far to Cosenza and as it was Simon's birthday he had decided to book a proper hotel in town anyway. We faffed about for a while, Simon received his birthday gift – a Bialetti moka pot. [This story is too good to not mention it in this place – Renato Bialetti, son of moka pot inventor Alfonso Bialetti, had his ashes placed in a giant moka pot for his funeral service in 2016 – check it out!] After our caffeine fix the mist lifted and the sun came out. Quickly our tent had dried and we were good to go. With only about 30 kilometres to go we reached Cosenza in the early afternoon. Our hotel was located in the new part of town so we did our sightseeing on the way there, visited Castello Svevo and the 11th-century cathedral and just aimlessly rode our bikes through the narrow alleyways of the old town. In the afternoon we checked in to our hotel. We had been planning to go out for dinner but all pizzerias nearby only opened after 7.30pm. We were so hungry we couldn't wait that long. Instead we bought heaps of local cheeses, bread and wine and had a delicious dinner in our hotel room.
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| Delicious spring water |
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| Approaching Cosenza |
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| Cosenza old town |
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| Cathedral |
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| View over Cosenza |
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| Dinner in our hotel room |
Despite the feasting the night before we managed to get a somewhat early start. From Cosenza we were headed back to the coast which meant crossing the mountains once more. The climbs were again long but gradual. We mostly stuck to small roads which were virtually traffic-free and led through beautiful nature. In the afternoon more and more clouds appeared and the higher up the mountains we cycled the more misty it became. Eventually we reached the highest point – just to find a collection of abandoned houses in various states of decay. With the setting in a dark, misty forest quite a spooky sight. On the way back down to the coast we passed a whole series of abandoned houses. We really felt like in a horror movie. Dark forest, mist, abandoned houses. In fact we hadn't seen any cars for the last couple of hours. All traffic went across the newer highway which we were vaguely paralleling. Halfway down from the mountain pass we came across yet another abandoned house. It wasn't as cold as it had been up on the pass. Also it was already late afternoon and so we decided to camp right behind the house where there would be a bit of shelter. It must have been one of our most surreal camping spots ever!
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| Abandoned houses on the way from Cosenza to Paola |
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| Camping spot from a horror movie?! |
The mist was even thicker the next morning and back on the road we could barely see farther than 20 metres. Then out of a sudden the fog lifted and we could see the blue sea hundreds of metres below us. What a magical view! The downhill continued for several more kilometres but eventually we reached the city of Paola. We briefly stopped at the sanctuary of Francesco di Paola, founder of the Order of Minims (who in return founded the Paulaner Brewery in Bavaria). From the sanctuary we cycled further up the Calabrian coast and found ourselves in Cirella in the late afternoon. We hadn't planned to stop there but from the road we could see the ruins of Castello di Cirella high up on a hill above the modern city. On a whim we decided to cycle up to the Castello. What. A. Slog. The road led up the hill with an almost constant 20% gradient for about 1.5 kilometres. Apparently the ruins had once been part of something like a historical park but had since been deemed unsafe. The path to the entrance of the Castello was cordoned off but after the brutal road up there we wouldn't leave empty-handed. Actually there were some nice views from the ruins but most of the structures within the fortifications were completely overgrown. From the Castello we cycled back down to the coast and stopped at a camp-ground a bit further down the road.
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| So much fog! |
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| Finally a glimpse of the coast |
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| Sanctuary of Francesco di Paola |
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| Castello di Cirella |
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We woke up to an overcast sky the next morning and merely managed to pack away the tent before the first rain shower started. There were a few more showers after we had set off but in the afternoon the weather became sunny. The second half of the way to Maratea was actually quite lovely. The stretch of coast was just spectacular with rocky cliffs and deep blue sea. Short before Maratea we reached the region of Basilicata. Farewell Calabria!
After a short but steep climb we reached the old town of Maratea. We had planned to just take some pictures and to carry on into the mountains. But there was that statue of Christ the Redeemer towering over the old town on a hill. It didn't look like it was super high up and so we decided to cycle up there. We should have known better. The statue is in fact at about 620 metres above sea level. It wasn't a super steep climb but still we were quite knackered by the time we got to the top of the hill. The statues wasn't overly impressive but the views were just spectacular. When we were done with taking pictures it was already quite late. We found a last-minute deal for a guesthouse in Maratea and called it a day. What a finale for the month of April!
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| Yet another rain shower |
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| Back to blue sky on the way to Matarea |
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| Farewell Calabria! |
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| Matarea old town |
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| Slogging up to the statue of Christ the Redeemer |
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| View from the statue |
