Although it’s now exactly 5 months since this little trip, today I decided to write about it in the blog. The main idea was to cycle from Brennero (on the border between Italy and Austria in the Dolomites) to Napoli, but it had to end in Bologna due to technical issues that I will explain later.
The day after finishing the work contract in Switzerland, I took the train early in the morning to Innsbruck with my bike and then to the italian border. I was travelling a little lighter than I’ll be doing soon when I head to the Far East, and it shows.
I arrived in Brennero at 12 pm, a bad time to start cycling because it was hot as hell, it was the end of July. Even so, since it was all downhill, it was bearable plus the views of the valley were breathtaking.
The first village I crossed was called Vipiteno and it was quite beautiful although very touristy. The architecture of Südtirol is like Austrian and can be clearly seen in its buildings.
I continued cycling to Bressanone when hunger got the better of me and I had to stop for the first pizza of the trip.
I had to continue till Bolzano where Marialuisa was waitng for me. She offered to host me through Couchsurfing, but I had to put the pedal to the metal. It was really hot and the shortage of water that made most of the fountains not working made things even more difficult for me. I had to stop a couple of times to rest because I was about to faint. In the end I made it to Bolzano and ate an ice cream to celebrate before heading to Marialuisa’s house.
I then set off for Marialuisa’s house, which she offered for as long as I needed, as she was going to be out of town for a couple of days. Even so, my idea was to spend the night there and leave early the next day.
I got up early and continued to pedal until I reached Trento at lunchtime. It was very hot, so I decided to take the train in order to skip the climb to the Valsugana, which would’ve killed me.
The train saved me about 20 kilometres and a few hundred meters of elevation gain, dropping me off at Pergine Valsugana. From there, I had to continue cycling towards Bassano del Grappa. The initial idea was to camp but the rain chased me and I not only had to discard the idea, but I had to find a place with a roof where I could sleep under cover. Luckily a residence for athletes in Borgo Valsugana saved my day. On my way there, a couple stopped me to ask me how I was doing and offered me a three scooped lemon ice cream.
The man who ran the residence in Borgo Valsugana, Michele, was very kind and recommended a place to have dinner. As you can imagine, it was another pizza for a change.
And apparently someone found me attractive and decided to let me know. Or was in the mood for a joke.
I went to sleep with a full belly because the ride for the next day was a rather long one till Padova, where I stayed at Francesco’s home, an Erasmus friend in Nancy (France), who gave me the possibility to stay at his place on my own because he was in the mountains. I continued following the river Brenta, which is beautiful, to Bassano del Grappa. The town from where the famous distillate called Grappa comes from.
The heat in those days was unbearable after 1 pm, even so I decided to continue a little further to Padova and shortly after in Cittadela I regretted it and decided to take the train to Padova before a misfortune happened. I went for a short walk through the old town of Padova, which is a must-see, before heading to Francesco’s house.
At Francesco’s it was time to celebrate with an ice cold beer.
The following day a long and boring stretch was ahead. Under a blazing sun and very little shade. It was hard to find motivation except for the fact of arriving in Bologna.
I crossed both the Adige and the Po, the two longest rivers in Italy, before arriving in Ferrara, a very beautiful and historical town.
Then I had an ice cream to get my strength back and decided to do some kilometres by train until the sun went down a little. That was about 20 kilometres before arriving in Bologna, and I was also looking forward to getting to Bologna on the bike, as it’s a city that I’ve visited several times whenever I joined Ari, my partner, but I had never done it by bike. She wasn’t there at the time because she had already gone back home to Sicily for the summer, but Francesca, one of her roommates, was there and we celebrated as we should.
The plan was to rest for a whole day and the next day continue through the Apennines towards Toscana and Roma-Napoli. The very same day I was going to leave, in the morning, my mobile phone decided to stop working overnight, never better said. Without a phone, everything was more difficult and I lost the motivation to continue and added to the tremendous heat, I decided that I had had enough. Now I seem to leave all trips half done, but in these two trips I was on a tight schedule and I had to make a decision, so I did.
I decided to take the direct train to Roma to see a friend of Ari, Clelia, who would host me for a night in Roma before I continued on to Sicily on my own. All that with the bike on the train, of course. Cycle through Roma was quite an experience, very chaotic yet interesting. With Clelia and a friend of hers, we went for a drink and a pinsa romana, which tastes just as good as it looks.
The next day, having slept very little, I said goodbye to Clelia and cycled to the train station tot catch the train to Catania. A whopping 10 hours on the train awaited me if everything went smoothly, which of course didn’t. In order to cross the sea and reach Sicily, the system used is to introduce the train into a boat, which takes it to the other shore and there it continues its journey along the tracks again.
When I got to Giarre Ari was waiting for me with the car and I had to follow her with the bike to her house. It was quite a climb but the reward was worth the effort. A delicious sicilian dinner with the best company possible.
Even though I wasn’t able to complete the whole trip I had in mind, it was a great experience overall and I had a great time on the bike, which is the most important thing in the end. I learnt many things that I’m sure will be useful for the future. Italy always treats me well and I feel at home, it must be for a reason!
