Italy Divide: Of Volcanoes, Abruzzen Snow, and the Call of the Family
It’s somehow surreal: just a moment ago I was in Tuscany, pedaling up a mountain, and now I’m sitting in a hospital in Leipzig with my father, caring for my mother, while my sister checks out new options for care. This is obviously not how I imagined my participation in the Italy Divide, but sometimes life writes its own stories. And sometimes there are things that simply take priority.
The Italy Divide had been on my list for a long time, partly because it’s not a race, but an event where you can essentially determine your own pace. This year, the Italy Divide turned 10 years old. To mark the occasion, Giacomo, the event organizer, added a new route with the XL version: 1,650 km and 26,000 meters of elevation gain from Bari to Pompeii, where it joins the Classic version, which clocks in at 1,250 km and 22,000 meters of elevation. Then there is the Origins version, which leads 700 km and 14,000 meters of elevation from Rome to Lake Garda. All three routes merge into one another. I rode the Classic route and started in Pompeii on May 1st.
This place is truly remarkable, as ancient Pompeii lies directly at the starting point – because of that, I had the best view of the ruins at the foot of Mount Vesuvius.
From the Vesuvius Summit Directly into “Hammering” Mode
We headed up there right after the start: after 2 km, the climb began and the first 1,000 meters of elevation gain in one go were waiting. For me, it was the first test of my fitness and whether my training over the past months had paid off. What can I say? It went wonderfully. I had planned 2 hours for the climb but was at the top after just 1:35 hours. The top itself is quite unspectacular, and you don’t get a view over the crater rim.
Instead, there’s a beautiful view of Naples and the bay before heading down via switchbacks. What followed was 60-70 km of “hammering” on roads through Naples via Caserta to the first mountain after Isernia. The field of participants had already spread out significantly by then, but in the afternoon, I met Christopher and two guys from Stuttgart. Together we rolled on until dusk. The two from Stuttgart decided to take another break and eat something, while Christopher and I continued into the climb toward Carovilli.
Already tired from the first day, we decided around 10 PM to roll out our sleeping bags in the niches of an old church building or stable. Unfortunately, it was very windy during the night, so I got very little sleep.
Snowfields and Stone Tracks in the Abruzzen
Anyone who does these kinds of undertakings knows that the second day is what matters and how you feel then. Surprisingly, despite very little sleep, I felt very good, and my body showed hardly any after-effects of the exertions of the first day. So I started the first kilometers in high spirits, and after an extensive morning cappuccino and cornetto in Castel di Sangro, it was time to climb again.
Up to that point, the landscape had been nice, but not particularly impressive. That slowly changed as we entered the Abruzzen. And they delivered—with a beautiful alpine ascent to 1,800 m, snowfields along the route, dense forests in the valley, and a magnificent view of the snow-capped mountain range of the Parco Nazionale Della Majella.
Once at the top, we headed into a very stony descent, where my hands were severely challenged, and I had to ride a bit more carefully without a suspension fork.
Again and again, switchbacks led down to Lake Scanno and from there onto a panorama road through the gorges of the Sagittario to Avezzano.
What a ride, what a fantastic landscape. For me, one of the most beautiful sections of the Italy Divide.
We decided to ride late today and arrived at around 10:30 PM in the small mountain village of Sante Marie, where we set up camp on the playground.
The nights up here in the Abruzzen are very cold, so we were happy to be back on the bikes and have a climb right at the start. We planned it that way intentionally so we would warm up immediately in the morning and wake up the body.
Via Appia, the Vatican, and the Invisible Border to the North
In the first light of day, we climbed the final ascent before heading mostly downhill toward Rome. Unfortunately, after all the beauty of the previous day, the route turned out to be a rather dreary and not un-dangerous highway, where we rolled for many kilometers into Rome with heavily increasing car traffic.
Shortly before the center, we took another break to eat. Generally, this tour is highly recommended culinarily, and a short visit to a café is almost obligatory.
Then we rolled into the heart of the Eternal City, via the Via Appia to the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, and on to Castel Sant’Angelo and the Vatican.
Rome was hot and stuffy and full of people. No wonder, as it was Sunday and also the first weekend of May.
Accordingly, I was glad when we could escape quickly along the Tiber into the open landscape shortly after the Vatican. Rome is an interesting city overall: thousand-year-old buildings just stand there as if tossed down, and in between, modern Rome snakes along. And the Eternal City isn’t as huge as I thought. On the contrary: it is very compact and actually quite easy to navigate.
But Rome is also like an invisible border between southern and northern Italy. While many paths and tracks in the south were lined with trash and dirt, it was suddenly very clean and tidy in Tuscany. The landscape changed significantly, and after the alpine Abruzzen, the rolling hills with their impressive hilltop towns now dominated.
Gravel, Pizza, and the Calm Before the Storm
But the elevation gain lurked here too through the constant up and down: the track from Rome to the Strada Bianca had 4,400 meters of elevation over 270 km. So we were prepared for climbing and enjoyed the beautiful landscape.
It was Day 3 and thus time for a shower and some self-care. We rolled into the beautiful Campagnano di Roma a bit earlier than usual, where we took a room in a hotel. In the associated restaurant, we ended the evening with pasta and pizza – la Dolce Bikepacking Vita!
Day 4 greeted us again with blue skies and sun, but we knew the hours were numbered as storms were forecast for the following two days.
The route followed much of the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage route over 3,000 km long leading from Canterbury to Rome. For us, this meant continuing north on many gravel tracks. Over larger and smaller hills and steep climbs and descents. I found the wild crossing of an archaeological park particularly beautiful; it resembled a jungle where we occasionally had to push on the wet trails.
After the Dolce Vita of the last few days, we wanted to reduce our stationary time, also to maintain our average of 170 km per day.
The route of the Italy Divide can be easily underestimated; normally, given a length of 1,250 km and 22,000 meters of elevation, I would assume about 200-230 km a day, also because the proportion of asphalt is quite high. But I already had a suspicion beforehand that it wouldn’t be quite that simple and calculated with 170-180 km. And I was right, as the route was quite exhausting and we weren’t riding slowly. However, for culinary reasons, we had a higher stationary time per day – which is understandable.
Physically, I was able to perform all of this almost perfectly: we rode around 3,000 meters of elevation daily, and my heart rate averaged 119 over the 700+ km and 12,000 meters of elevation. My good old Martin Diesel (aerobic efficiency) worked perfectly, and honestly, the 6 kg I lost before the Italy Divide were also decisive for my performance. I rode up 99% of the mountains and had no problems other than the usual ultra-long-term discomforts.
Towards evening, more and more wind picked up and the sky clouded over – signs of the approaching rain. We decided to spend the night in a B&B, which was the right decision, because at midnight the heavens opened their floodgates and brought hours of heavy rain. That was just the prelude, because in the following days, the heavy rain ensured, among other things, that some paths towards Bologna were cut off by raging streams or the track was completely flooded.
From the Track to the Hospital: What Really Matters
But I couldn’t experience that directly anymore, because during the night my sister wrote to me that she needed my help at home. With a heavy heart, I said goodbye to Christopher in the morning, rode 55 km through the rain to the nearest train station, and began a nearly 48-hour journey home by bike and train to Hamburg.
To my surprise, that went quite well apart from a few hiccups, and after a short touchdown at home, I drove straight on to Leipzig, where I began the next ultra: caring for my parents, together with my sister. Outcome still open.
What a contrast and a transition between worlds. But that’s just how it is. Now the focus is on family, and then I’ll plan new tours and projects.
Note: It is not allowed to make the GPX track and Strava recordings of the Italy Divide publicly available, as the track is protected. Therefore, here are only the screenshots of my riding days.
