Cycling in Piedmont: On the Streets of the Myth!

Note: This is a guest post by Elsi from Trip and Travel Blog

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Being a fan of cycling I decided my next trip was to be a bike trip. After reading lots of travel portals and travel blogs I had a hard time deciding on my destination. What better place for cycling than the Piedmont hills to discover the villages and the beautiful landscape that gave birth to Fausto Coppi. I took this trip alone as all my cycling buddies were unavailable at the time. Starting at the town of Tortona in three steps I explored all the places that have shaped the history and contributed in the success of the “champion”.

First I visited the country of Castellania, the birthplace and tomb of brothers Coppi Coppi and the small museum, a place that still sees a pilgrimage of people who pay homage to the great hero. Getting there seemed easy and I even came across other bikers that appeared to be following the same route as me. Arriving in the country it turned out that in the silence of the hills of Castellania Tortona at the funeral mausoleum of Fausto and Serse Coppi,
cyclists and cyclists gather every year to pay homage.

The hills of the Piedmont are not very well known, but I found these valleys to be lovely surprises for my cycling trip. There were also some points of interest one could miss if he wasn’t careful: In Volpedo I visited the house museum of the painter from Volpedo Pellizza; San Sebastian Curone with its square houses painted with views of Mount Giarolo, Monleale nestled on a hill, with its square French styled Garbutt, and his ways of the old Town and the artisans of the cabinet.

Details of the bike trip:

Immersed in the beautiful hills of Piedmont among vineyards and small towns rich in history I spent 3 days in full contact with nature, just me and my bike, well, and occasionally other bikers. Alternating “hard work” with a cycling tour of the interesting cultural sites in the surrounding area gave me a feeling of progression I seldomly get: the Romanesque church, the country of Coppi, the small museum dedicated to the sample were some of the sites I found.

Later I came to know that there was a group biking tour in the area at the same time with the same meeting point as my starting point, the station in Tortona. Apparently they gathered in the late morning or early afternoon on Thursday. In fact their tour was very similar to my trip except they did a thorough city tour and then made a stop at a winery.

A fellow biker told me all this. He was part of that group, but they were given a choice among various cycling routes. That was the reason I kept seeing cyclists on my way but never big groups of them. Overall, I enjoyed myself; the area was very hilly and therefore had a typical vertical drop in altitude. As a matter of fact the tour was quite challenging. Exactly what I was looking for to escape from the routine of plain sightseeing trips. I avoided to tackle any mountain climbs, but a continuous up and down gradient was unavoidable. Manyareas were also quite steep: it is advisable to check around with some preparation in order to enjoy the best 4 days of cycling.

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More about Elsi Hasanaj: Elsi is an aspiring blogger and an adventurous traveler. He likes being abroad and seeing new places.  Travelling by sea is his preferences and his favorite countries are Japan and Mexico. He also likes sharing his experiences with the world. You can check out his profile and more writing at Trip and Travel Blog.