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Spring break in Marina di Massa from 11 to 18 May 2025

Enrico Alberini, Gérard Birelli, Thierry Labour, the IT and travel managers contributed to this page presenting the trip.

This year's spring break will take place in Tuscany on the Riviera Toscana and the Riviera di Levante, as well as in the Cinque Terre and Appennino national parks.

There are a number of constraints to organising a spring break in Italy: 

- Climatic, the presence of snow at this time excludes the Alpine massif, 

- The proximity of accommodation for most participants reduces the number of possible regions, 

- The topography of the area does not allow for star trails, so travel should be kept to a minimum. 

Preparing for the trip required the small team of Enrico Alberini, Gérard Birelli and Thierry Labour to travel 4 times a week. 

All the mule routes were reconnoitred between May 2023 and June 2024. Given the remoteness of the area, it was not possible to carry out a final reconnaissance just before the trip or to rely on local people.

Descriptions are given for information only and may be out of date as a result of changes in the terrain or environment since the surveys were carried out.

Security

Tuscany is an extension of Liguria, wedged between the Ligurian Sea and the Apennines.

It is a densely populated region, with the population concentrated on the coastal strip known as the Riviera di Toscana.

Traffic is therefore very heavy on the coastal road, the Via Aurelia (SS1), and for a few kilometres inland as you move away from the coast. We would therefore draw your attention to the need to respect the highway code, particularly when riding in a peloton. 

As soon as you get away from the coast, traffic is light and you have very good telephone coverage when you need it.

For emergencies call  112. 

As far as the mule routes are concerned, they follow forest tracks or GR trails that do not require any great technical skill. There are very few portages, most of which can be avoided by taking the bypass routes indicated in the route sheets.

For travel from the accommodation centre to the start of the route, we strongly advise you to take the motorway. Traffic on the Via Aurelia and through the built-up areas is subject to heavy congestion.

Image rights-RGPD

Participants are reminded that taking and publishing photos of identifiable individuals may constitute processing of personal data falling within the scope of the RGPD and image rights.

Case law in this area holds that a person who gives consent for photos to be taken does not necessarily give consent for them to be published or broadcast. The author must therefore obtain this double consent. 

The author who transmits photos in the form of a slide show or video on the Club's forum implicitly grants the Club des Cent Cols the right to use the images submitted in any form.

This consent may be withdrawn at any time with the Data Protection Officer without calling into question the lawfulness of the processing based on your consent carried out prior to the withdrawal thereof. 

Tuscany and the surrounding area

The chain between two seas forms, roughly speaking, an arc between the city of Savona, on the Mediterranean coast, and the Strait of Messina in the Ionian Sea, with the centre of the arc extending towards the Adriatic coast. The Apennines do, however, contain low-lying mountain bastions that are not geographically part of the main chain. These isolated mountain formations among the hills belong to the Apennine group (the equivalent of the Pre-Alps in the Alps). They include the Metalliferous Hills, Monte Conero, Monte Albano, Monte Lepino, Circeo, Gargano and Vesuvius. The highest point is Corno Grande, in the Grand Sasso massif in Abruzzo, at an altitude of 2,912 metres. The Northern or Northern Apennines, through which the range joins the Western Alps (pass at 459 metres altitude). This part of the range contains only one massif above 2,000 metres, the Tosco-Emilian Apennines, which reach a peak of 2,165 metres (Mount Cimone). The mountains here, which are rather rounded, form a very tapered chain that rapidly declines towards the surrounding hills, and the passes, which are very often used by roads, are at altitudes of between 700 and 1000 metres. However, this part of the Apennines still has large wild forests, especially between Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna with the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines. The Apuan Alps, despite their rather modest size (the highest peak in this massif is Mount Pisanino at 1947 metres), contain peaks and gorges that are completely wooded, giving them an appearance similar to the sugar loaves of the Orient. What's more, these peaks slope sharply down towards the Tyrrhenian Sea, with many impressive cliffs.

Tuscany is one of Italy's 20 regions, located in the centre-west of the country, with Florence as its capital.

As the cradle of the Renaissance and humanism, its exceptionally rich political and cultural history has given Italy its language, as well as authors such as Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch, political figures such as Cosimo the Elder, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Machiavelli and Catherine de' Medici, artists such as Brunelleschi, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and an immense archicultural heritage.

Its economy is based mainly on tourism, agriculture and the fashion industry. Tuscany is a triangular-shaped region in central Italy, between the northern Tyrrhenian Sea and the Apennines.

The word Toscana ("Tuscany") first appeared in the 10th century. It comes from the Latin word Tuscia, which from the 3rd century onwards referred to the ancient Etruria or Tuscia, the land of the Etruscans, located between the Tiber and Arno rivers.

The Etruscans appeared on the scene in the 8th century BC and reached the height of their civilisation in the 6th century BC. Subjugated by Rome, they were totally absorbed by Roman civilisation in the 1st century BC.

Etruria, the territory of their regional dodecapolis, corresponded roughly to that of modern-day Tuscany.

Thanks to the fleet power they had built up, the Etruscans established trade links with Greece and the Orient (Cyprus, Syria), Gaul, Hispania and Africa (Carthage), exporting Tuscan iron and copper and importing fabrics, jewellery, ivory, ceramics, etc.

They sought to extend their domination southwards where, in the second half of the 7th century BC, they occupied the Latin country. They settled on the site of Rome, which for over a century was ruled by kings from Etruria, the Tarquins.

Towards the beginning of the sixth century BC, they ventured into Campania, but came up against the Greeks, who had settled in southern Italy (Magna Graecia). In the north, towards the end of the sixth century BC, they spread out over a large part of the Po Plain, founding Bologna (then called Felsina) and the port of Spina (now in the Po delta), from where they could control the Adriatic trade.

Etruria formed a federation of twelve "city-states" grouped into a dodecapole, called lucumonies because they were governed by a king called "Lucumon", whose union remained more religious than political.

At the end of the 6th century BC, Tarquin the Superb, the last of the seven kings of Rome, was ousted and Rome became a republic (509). At the beginning of the following century, the Etruscans, now cut off from Campania, tried to establish a sea link, but came up against the Greeks.

Threatened by Roman expansion from the 3rd century onwards, the Etruscan cities gave in one by one to Rome's growing power: the capture of their religious capital, Velzna, in 265 BC marked the end of their independence.

We still have many archaeological remains of their brilliant civilisation, testifying to their refined art and great ingenuity, as well as the many contributions they made to Roman civilisation (such as the haruspices). On the other hand, their language, of which there are few written traces, has not yet been deciphered.

Today, the region of Tuscany is made up of 10 provinces (departments): Florence, Siena, Grossetto, Arezzo, Livorno, Pisa, Prato, Pistoia, Lucca, Massa and Carrara (© Wikipedia).

Tours

cc RouteTuscany 2025 Route

Provisional programme of road and mountain bike routes

National and regional parks

The itineraries on this trip take in a number of national and regional parks: the Cinque Terre Park, the Apuan Alps Regional Nature Park, the Montemarcello-Magra Regional Nature Park and the Valli del Cedra e dei Cento Laghi Regional Park.

There is no ban on mountain biking on forest paths and tracks, just a reminder to respect the fauna and flora and to take your rubbish with you.

The paths and tracks we used are maintained and signposted by the local sections of the Italian Alpine Club.

Linea Gotica and the Parco della Pace

The Linea Gotica or Linea Verde is a natural defence line that was fortified during the Second World War. There are still fortifications from Massa to Pesaro along a 407km route in 25 stages.

In memory of the various massacres that took place in 1944 (the Adréatines Pits, Sant'Anna di Stazemma and Marzabotto), the Parco della Pace houses a Museum at Sant'Anna recounting the events that can be seen on one of the mule tracks (V27).

BIG

For BIG hunters, there are several that feature on the holiday itineraries:

Location of mountain bike trails

Road routes

Hosting

We will be staying at thehotel Verve Torre Marina. The resort lies between the Apuan Alps and the Cinque Terre Park, on the border between Tuscany and Liguria.

The village has an outdoor swimming pool and direct access to a private beach in the centre of a park of maritime pines covering more than 5 hectares.

It is a 15-minute drive from Massa Centro station and 10 km from Forte dei Marmi.

Early arrivals and late departures are not possible in this establishment.

Verve Torre Marina Via Fortino di San Francesco 1 54037 Massa Tel : +39 0585 869310

Email address : info@torremarina.it

For those wishing to stay in camping or motorhomeThere are two nearby campsites where you can stay.

Camping Aurora di Arcolini, Via delle Pinete 408. 54100 Marina di Massa Tel : +39 0585 788111

Camping LunaVia delle Pinete 392 54100 Marina di Massa. Tel : +39 0585 780460

 

Note from the Board of Directors

If you are organising your accommodation elsewhere than at the stay centre, don't forget to register as a "Simple Participant":

• In order to correctly size joint events (information sessions, welcome and closing drinks).
• To provide the holiday booklet.
• To ensure that the costs of preparation and organisation are shared.

Registrations

To register, download the PDF registration form from the link below and follow the instructions therein. The deadline for receipt of entries is 11 March 2025.

For legal reasons, these holidays are only open to members of the Club, so please make sure you are up to date with your membership fees before sending in your registration form.

Télécharger le bulletin / download the booking form / scarica il modulo

Passbook

You can leaf through here the booklet which will be distributed during your stay and, in addition to welcome messages, contains information about the region and how to get there, safety tips and detailed descriptions of the tours.

There's more to life than cycling

Some good addresses: