e-bike  Liguria

May 2021, text under review.

This section offers a wonderful bike ride in the heart of the Aveto Regional Natural Park, between solitary forests and rocky plateaus with a lunar aspect.

We start pedaling at Passo delle Lame, along the dirt road that proceeds on the south side of the mountain ridge, with Monte degli Abeti and Monte delle Lame. After five kilometers we begin to climb up, reaching first Pratomollo, the place where Pietra Borghese is located, an unusual geological formation composed of Lherzolite rocks and resembling a meteorite. Here the magnetic field is significantly altered and moreover, if the rocks are struck with a metallic object, it generates a curious sound similar to that of a bell. We then proceed to the Spingarda Pass (1551 m), skirting Mount Aiona to the southeast. From its peak, on clear days, the panorama is boundless, from the sea to the highest peaks of the Ligurian Apennines, up to the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and the Alps in the background to the north. The Aiona plateau, due to the particular nature of the rock, is a magnetic anomaly zone where the compass is unusable.

We then leave the borders of the Aveto Park and also the Ligurian regional ones to enter Tuscany first and Emilia next until the end of this section. The ride proceeds with slight ups and downs to Monte Crociato (km 17.7), and then begins to lose altitude, meeting the river Taro and the first, small groups of houses in the Grondana, I Massi and Torre localities. After descending to 740 meters, we start climbing again, returning to the ridge at around 1100 meters and then following the SP 49 to Passo del Bocco.

We now leave the Passo del Bocco always riding our mountain bike along the SP 49, passing the small basin of the Lago del Bocco on its right. A couple of kilometers uphill give way to a longer downhill stretch till Colla Craiolo where we leave the asphalt just after a chapel / shelter, to start a dirt road.

We continue on the ridge, with a view of the grassy side and wide panoramas, to then reach the village of Casareggio from where the path reaches Passo Pietrebianche and Passo Chiapparino giving us fantastic views towards the south. After Monte Ventarola the Passo di Cento Croci (restaurant and bar) which separates the Val di Vara from Emilia Romagna. We continue to the Passo della Cappelletta (wind mills and shelter) to descend into the village of Albareto which we will abandon on the right in the direction of Passo dei Due Santi continuing to gain altitude on Monte Scheggia and La Rocchetta. The route crosses Fontana del Faggio, Pradischelli and reaches the Passo dei Due Santi (1364 m), where the Zum Zeri ski resort is located. After passing Zum Zeri we descend to the Passo Calzavitello where we end this section.