18 – Cycling in the Pollino National Park, the largest in Italy, a ring-route between rites and myths
Difficulty: high
Bike type: gravel / road racing / e-bike
Departure: Rotonda
Arrival: Rotonda
Total miles: 60 approximately
Road surface: asphalt
Height difference ascent: 1440 m
Height difference descent: 1440 m
Time of year: from April to November
ROUTE
This is a round trip that highly experienced cyclists can complete in a single day, despite the challenging climbs.
ROUTE 18
It starts from Rotonda, home of the Pollino National Park, and after a 25 km climb you reach the plains of Piano Ruggio, at an altitude of 1600 metres. The landscape is constantly changing. In a few kilometres, you pass from Mediterranean scrub to the tall woods which are characteristic of the centre of the Park, oaks and Turkey oaks, giving way to an increasingly dense beech forest.
A stop at the Piano Ruggio fountain will allow you to admire the majestic Serra del Prete, which dominates the plateau. Following the path at the bottom of the valley that plunges into the beech forest on the right, it is possible to take a stroll to the Malvento belvedere, to admire some specimens of Heldreich’s pine clinging to the ridges, at a point where the panorama extends as far as the eye can see over nearby Calabria.
At this point the route becomes more and more rideable, with alternating downhill and uphill sections.. After coming out of the wood, at the end of a 16 kilometre scenic descent through vast grassy meadows, we reach Viggianello, one of the ‘Borghi più Belli d’Italia’ (Italy’s Most Beautiful Villages).
Continue downhill until you reach the valley, and then climb up to Rotonda, the finishing point of this spectacular tour among the highest peaks of the Lucanian side of the Pollino National Park.
