Emilia Romangna -Cycling- From Cesena to the wall of Sorrivoli di Roncofreddo in the Beautiful Appenines of Romagna.Twelwe Kilometers Cycling on the Roads,discovering Cesena and recalling the memory of Marco Pantani.A short but significant route where the Great Champion Trained Everyday.

Cesena is a beautiful town at the foot of the Apennino Romagnolo just 14 km from the Adriatic Sea,28 km from Rimini tourism capital of the summer resort of the Adriatic Riviera and 36 km from Ravenna the beautiful and splendid city of mosaics and capital of three different kingdoms such as the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the Ostrogothic Kingdom. 
Cesena is a city vibrant, active, with a cuisine of international level, the land of the famous Piadina Romagnola Tagliatelle with ragú land also of good wine from the hills of the Apennines is produced the famous grape called Sangiovese, those grapes that is then used in the method preparation of the prestigious Chianti. 
A visit to Cesena in Romagna is if you are in Romagna is a a must, with the medieval Cathedral of St. Giovanni Battistat,one of the examples in Romanesque-Gothic style among the most beautiful in Northern Italy, the Abbey of Santa Maria del Monte of the 10th century,neoclassic and renaissance buildings with loggia and elegant shopping arcades of the city centre, the picturesque bridge Ponte Clemente also called Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) on the River Savio and especially the Malatesta Fortress, famous octagonal castle, popular in history of art for the name of its towers Maschio and Femmina  Male and Female.Built by the Cardinal Albornoz.residence of the powerful Malatesta family, this fortress housed some famous figures in history such as Frederick Barbarossa, Cesare Borgia and it was where was imprisoned the noble Caterina Sforza.Cesena is also the birthplace of a great sport and cycling Marco Pantani.Automatically this city with the Region  Romagna is a land of cycling tradition, for obvious geographical reasons,hills and mountainns of different difficultm the scene of several international competittions as Giro of Romagna,Coppa Placci,, the Memorial dedicated to  Pantani who won Giro D´Italia and Tour de France, historic rival of Indurain, Armstrong and Ulrich with who wrote memorable pages of cycling at the highest international levels.
Pantani, who grew up in these parts often trained on his beloved Apennines, in his beloved Romagna, here he loved to clim the hills of Val Marecchia The Faggiola the Fumaiolo,the Poggiolo and often went to Sorrivoli. Sorrivoli of Roncofreddo is a small village of a hundred people perched on a hill on the edge of the Apennines not far from the Rubicon River, famous for the popular phrase of the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar and his famous phrase alea iacta est , when the Emperor returned from the Gaul campaign crossed the river and uttered that phrase to the Roman Senators who were against him,lining his troops on the banks of this river.Leaving the historic centre of Cesena crossing Via Carducci, Via and Via Minzoni and Via Vicinio pedaling for about 1.8 km to the south of the city area.

Once you are in the Cesena South urban belt take first Via Via Ponte Abbadesse and later Via Comunale Sorrivoli you leave Cesena behind you and enter in the Romagna countryside,surrounded by picturesque hills and wonderful mountains,you are in the heart of the Appennino di Romagna.After about 2 km very easy you will come to a fork and you have to take the direction of Via Diolaguardia riding for about 5 km before reaching Via Provinciale Sorrivoli a street that leads directly to the fullest extend of a hill,

 From here begins a climb to the top of the hill.The first impression at the first sighr is a climb just  like others, nothing special, but when you start you should immediately note the difficult,a wall with an average slope over than 13% and with some points reacking the 20% in these point about 250 meters you are almost in surplace,you have to pedale in a zigzag way.Very hard also using a 24x32 of MTB
and if you start the climb very fast it is terrible after only 200 meters,


 Sorrivoli is a small short wall of the Apennines that could put you in difficulty any professional cyclist, not Pantani climbed this hill almost every day, he knew the slope meter by meter, he climbed with gears other could not use the wall Sorrivoli Roncofreddo was his climb, his wall.
Once at the top, Sorrivoli,the village offers a beautiful panoramic view with its splendid and majestic castle dated 10th century which was the residence of the Archbishops of Ravenna, a property of the Malatesta family and then of the Papal States.Cesena is close to Forli, just 28 km and 'Forli airport offers the possibility of many low cost flights to explore the beautiful Romagna, a land rich in art and history, Apennines of Romagna offers many wonderful excursions, this little excursion of 12 km by bike is only a symbol, an important symbol to remember that a great champion gaveemotions to all fans of cycling, Sorrivoli is the small climb of Pantani, if you love cycling a great idea is to come here in this beautiful place called Romagna,cycling here and climb the Muro di Sorrivoli, you can say I climbed the wall where Pantani trained  here every day, Sorrivoli and Romagna with thousands of excursions bt bicycle are waiting for you.Francesco Mari