GIVI Magazine - Novembre 2015

42  Turismo THE LAND OF ENGINES FAENZA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS CAN REPRESENT A SURPRISE TO ANYONE WANTING TO DISCOVER THEM BY MOTORBIKE. RIDING ON ROADS DESIGNED FOR TWO WHEELS IN A LAND RICH IN CULTURE AND FINE LIVING. WE WILL GUIDE YOU THROUGH THIS TERRITORY IN THE SADDLE OF A SUPER-ACCESSORISED KTM 1050 ADVENTURE. F or those of us who love travelling by bike and won’t give up in front of the problems caused by the arrival of the cold, here is a route that is really worth doing in this season, when the hills round Faenza light up with Autumn’s many shades of colour, and the minerals in the azure clay erosion gullies shine under the tepid rays of a November sun. If you like to visit new places even now that the temperatures are starting to fall, before the rigid winter, here woods and vineyards dominate the scenery in the western part of the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano (the mountains between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna). Surrounded by green pa- stures and ancient villages, we start our journey in Faenza, on a special ride, the KTM 1050 Adventure, equipped with GIVI cases, bags and many useful accessories. The tour starts from Capo Nord shop in Faenza, two minutes from the highway, very easy to reach from any direction. This small city is at the crossroads between the roads of Roman origin Sa- laria (north-south direction) and Emilia (east-west), and owes its name to the Romans who called it Fa- ventia, ‘favoured by the gods’, and not by accident. From the VII century, when the first city walls were built, to Medieval times, to the Renaissance, Faenza changed face many times, and even its name, but still today we can find traces of its past in the monuments that maintain unaltered their beauty and, especially, in its ancient artisan tradition that starting from the XII century marked its destiny. Faïence (the French name for Faenza), is in fact today the synonym for majolica, Leonardo da Vinci in 1502 referred to its soil as ‘earth good for making pots’ and before that Dante roamed its alleys and squares. And we, eager to follow in his footsteps, make a first stop to discover this city with its severe face and a sobriety of classical origin, behind which it hides its peculiar character. THE OLD STREETS OF THE HISTORIC CENTRE We venture in the centre walking slowly – the town is not accessible by motorbike – without thinking about the passing of time. In front of us the impo- sing Piazza del Popolo, overlooked by the Palazzo del Podestà, with its Romanesque capitals and the thirteenth-century Town Hall, historical residence of the Manfredi family, lords of Faenza between 1313 and 1501. We continue our tour going towards Piazza della Libertà, from where a staircase takes us to the magnificent Cathedral of the XV century, splendid example of Renaissance architecture. Re- tracing our steps, from Piazza del Popolo we cross the Molinella archway and end up in Piazza Nenni where you can find the elegant eighteenth-century Teatro Masini, considered one of the most refined examples of Faenza Neoclassical style. Wandering aimlessly now, we pass in front of the typical artisan shops that enliven the city centre; timidly we enter one of the doors, and we are immediately immersed in a world of old traditions and ancient crafts. Curious, we stop to observe an artisan modelling clay to create real works of art. We decide at this point to end our tour with a visit, almost a must, to the MIC, the International Ceramics Museum, where the beautiful collections of objects from every era and country captivate and seduce us till sundown. FROMTHE FAENZAHILLS TO THE DOORS OF TUSCANY The following day, satisfied with this first stop, a spectacular excursion in the countryside awaits us. We leave early, with the rays of winter sun drawing golden figures on the entire valley creating glorious light play. With the map in our hands, we take the SP 16 towards the boundary with Tuscany, going south. The sometimes wild beauty of the Appennini is pure fun on a motorbike; we clock up kilometres soaking in the scenery which favours us with incre- dible views, full of orchards and olive groves, culti- vated fields, ridges adorned with pine and cypress trees and paths that lead through fairy-tale woods. We pass through hamlets that certainly do not lack in beauty. 20 km from Faenza we meet the ancient village of Modigliana, still watched over by the remains of the Guidi Castle (called ‘La Roccaccia’), right on the edge of a spur of rock at the meeting point of two streams. The entrance to the little town is heralded by the Romanesque stone bridge of San Donato, which owes its name to the fact that it once took you to a church dedicated to this saint; built during the second half of the Eighteenth century at the behest of a noble woman, and for this reason also called ‘Ponte della Signora’ (The lady’s bridge), it presents a particular humpback structure with three arches under which the river Acerreta flows. According to the legend on full-moon nights you can still hear the Lady’s ghost on her horse riding across the bridge to watch over her lands. The suggested route goes on towards Tredozio (on the SP20, about 10 kilometres fromModigliana), on the captions 1) THE LAND AROUND FAENZA ALLOWS FOR PLEASANT EXCUR- SIONS ON DIRT ROADS, PAYING ATTENTION, DURING THE RAINY SEASON, TO THE CLAY ROAD BED, SUBJECT TO WATERLOG- GING. 2) PIAZZA DEL POPOLO OVERLO- OKED BY THE PALAZZO LAO DEL PODESTA’, IN FAENZA. ON THE OTHER PAGE THE PONTE DELLA SIGNORA IN THE VILLAGE OF MODIGLIANA. 3) OUR KTM 1050 ADVENTURE WAS EQUIPPED AS IF IT WERE TO GO ON A TRIP TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PLANET, WHICH ALLOWED US TO TEST IN EVERYDAY LIFE THE QUALITY AND PRACTICALITY OF MANY SOLUTIONS THOUGHT OF FOR TOUGHER JOBS. STARTIN FROM THE FRONT, WE USED THE D7703ST HIGHER WINDSHIELD, THE TN7703 ENGINE GUARD AND THE RP7703 OIL CARTER PRO- TECTOR IN ROBUST ALUMINIUM. ALL ELEMENTS WITH MOUNTING SYSTEMS SPECIFIC FOR THIS BIG ENDURO BIKE. 4) AMONG THE ACCESSORIES TO MAKE THE KTM REALLY UNSTOPPABLE OR SUPER CAPACIOUS WE WOULD LIKE TO MENTION THE STRONG OUTBACK CASES, WITH SPECIFIC MOUNTING SYSTEM, AND ESPE- CIALLY THE TAN01 TANK, THE SRA7703 PLATE (HERE PAIRED WITH A WP400 100% WATERPRO- OF BIG BAG), THE XS310BB BAG TO PAIR WITH THE HARD CASES AND THE 3D603 TANKLOK. 5) CASCATA DELL’ABBRAC- CIO (EMBRACE WATERFALL) ROCKY AMPHITHEATRE IN THE HIGH VALLEY OF THE ROVIGO STREAM. 6) THE VALLEY WITH THE VILLAGE OF MARRADI. BOTTOM LEFT, THE INCREDIBLE ROADS ALL CURVES OF PASSO DELLA SAMBUCA, PERFECT FOR A BIKE TOUR; ON THE RIGHT, THE REMAINS OF THE OLD MANOR HOUSE OF MARRADI, CALLED “CASTELLONE” (THE BIG CA- STLE). 7) QUI SOTTO, IL MOMENTO PIÙ AVVENTUROSO DEL NOSTRO VIAGGIO: RAGGIUNGERE IN MOTO IL “VULCANO PIÙ PICCOLO AL MONDO”; SOPRA, LA FONTANA DELLE TRE DOTI, A TREDOZIO. BELOW, THE MOST ADVEN- TUROUS PART OF OUR TRIP: REACHING THE ‘SMALLEST VOLCANO IN THE WORLD’; ABOVE, FONTANA DELLE TRE DOTI (FOUNTAIN OF THE THREE SPECIAL GIFTS) IN TREDOZIO. frontier between Tuscany and Romagna, at the do- ors of the National Park of the Casentinesi Forests; a delightful village with stone houses crossed by the river Tramazzo and dominated by the evocative parish church of San Michele and the remains of its castle dating back to the X century. THEWORLD’S SMALLEST VOLCANO From here, with a small detour, we reach Ca’ Forte, where at a distance of some hundred metres you can observe the magnificent ‘burning fountain’ of the ‘smallest volcano in the world’: an interesting phenomenon derived from the combustion of flammable gas combined with the oxygen in the air, which creates a small eternal fire. The ascent to mount Brusca is complicated and sometimes difficult, the road is slippery and there are almost no road signs – finding the place is more complicated than we thought – but the effort is fully compensa- ted once in the presence of this incredible, almost supernatural, event, where the flames blown by a light breeze look like they are greeting us with an ancient ritual dance. We let ourselves be tempted also by the many off-road tracks that you can see going into the vineyards, on the gentle hills that will then become the Appennino mountains, but the clay soil is soaked by the rain that fell all night, and the KTM’s road tyres can do very little, notwithstan- ding the fact that the Austrian bike’s DNA and its technical equipment should allow us to go on tracks that are a lot worse…Having checked our tyres and gone back on asphalt, we continue our journey west (on the main road to Luterano, towards the SP 302) to reach Marradi, last town in the province of Flo- rence, a town famous for its chestnuts, with many stately homes and birthplace of the great poet of the nineteen-hundreds, Dino Campana. On the SP 302 we head towards Borgo San Lorenzo: only 17 km separate us from our first stop, a mountain pass called Passo della Colla (913 m), green countryside of the Mugello area, full of wheat fields and pastures, and fromwhere you can actually see the sea on a clear day. To reach our destination we proceed in a north-easterly direction on SS 477. From the mountain pass we follow the road for Palazzuolo sul Senio and Passo della Sambuca; just a few curves and we reach Prato all’Albero (1036 m), a nice picnic