1 - National Museum of Magna Graecia in Reggio Calabria. Riace Bronze A . The young man
With Mommo, owner of the Nicotera hotel, we established a cycling and friendly contact. At 7.30 at breakfast I see that she is not in a cycling suit as she had told me, but in work clothes. His knees hurt and he can’t go on his morning bike ride. He prepares me a “capicollo” (cured pork meat) of his own production and makes me wrap the leftover one in four slices of bread for a snack after the climb. Momo doesn’t resist and at a certain point she says that she would accompany me further down the road: “I’ll take you to San Ferdinando, I can’t stay still here”. He goes home and as long as I pack my luggage, he has time to dress up as a cyclist and come back and so we leave. Obviously, with pride, he shows me Nicotera beach, which is very beautiful. The sea is an extremely intense blue. We then proceed towards San Ferdinando observing the beautiful cultivations of clementines which are shipped practically throughout Europe. Other cyclists line up along the road, Rocco, Roberto, Salvatore so now I have a large Calabrian patrol escorting me to the gates of Gioia Tauro.
2 Nicotera beach
3 Calabrian friends found on the street become my companions for a few km
4 Close to Gioia Tauro. The cranes of the port. The cars stopped along the road near the cemetery. These are the days when the deceased are remembered.
Everyone wanted to know where, how and all the possible information about my journey, it didn’t seem real to me that I could tell it. Near San Ferdinando, near a wide road under renovation that leads to the port of Gioia Tauro, the friends go their own way and I continue knowing that the climb will soon begin. Today there are no trucks on the SS18, but you have to pay attention to every town because there are crowds around the cemeteries because these are the two days in which the deceased are remembered. Everyone jostles with their cars to find a parking space. It is mandatory to pay maximum attention as somewhat abrupt maneuvers are the order of the day. Everyone tells me that the climb is hard, hard! They also give me the alternative of taking the train, to which I reply horrified that it’s out of the question, at most I’ll push the bike to the top otherwise I’d feel like I’d failed. Even just having taken the train, for that very short distance, to overcome the landslide, weighs on me quite a bit. The climb begins in Cauda Venenum, the summit is the highest point of the tour, about 500 meters starting from zero.
5 The highest pass of the entire tour at over 500 meters above sea level
6 Lunch with sandwiches made with Momo’s capocollo
7 Bagnara Calabra
I don’t seem to have any difficulty in proceeding, every now and then I stop and check how many meters of altitude difference I have made in 1 km and I see that the average percentage is 6%. I proceed slowly, yes, but firmly, I don’t feel the fatigue of yesterday and I don’t need to repeat the mantra to myself. So, without exaggerating like yesterday, I reach the highest point. I stop and eat the bread with the capicollo, a fairy tale. I descend passing through Castagneto, a route mixed with olive groves where the green fruits are being harvested. The road carved into the rock descends inviting you to speed up, but I’m not doing anything stupid, there are only a few kilometers to go and potholes and irregularities in the asphalt are a constant on the road and it’s a snap to fall into a hole or on the joint of a bridge and with an inadequate speed I risk making the rear load swing and consequently making myself unbalanced: the risk of falling is real.
8 Bagnara Calabra
9 Scilla. Ruffo’s Castle
10 Scilla. The beach with the 224 meter pylon of the Calabrian shore in the background.
The splendor of Bagnara is manifested with a route that goes over and under the Caravilla bridge, near the Palazzo Ducale, with a unique background, all with downhill hairpin bends, fascinating! The town is nestled in the valley near the sea, where a very long avenue of palm trees sets the beautiful white beach upstream, obviously surrounded by the blue sea. The day so far hasn’t been nice at all, but now the sun is making its appearance. It is not a clear day however, the Sicilian coast, Capo Peloro, which represents Charybdis and its 260 m high pylon, begins to appear on the horizon. I arrive in Scilla, where there is the other pylon, a little less high than the Sicilian one, as it rests on a hill. The houses surround the cliff with the Ruffo castle on top and as a location it is as beautiful as Bagnara. There are a few kilometers to go until the end of my journey, the sky is getting a little darker and the sun doesn’t last long. It almost seems to warn me with a few small drops of rain that it can no longer hold it back, because it couldn’t do more, it held back all the rain that was forecast to give me the chance to make this trip. He brought everything to Northern Italy and practically here in the South, along my route, I saw very little of it. And indeed only a few small drops, which don’t even require you to stop and put on your rain jacket. In the distance I see a swordfish fishing boat sailing in the middle of the blue. I continue to enjoy these last kilometers to the fullest, telling myself I did it, I did it, sorry for the pride and elation. Arrival at Villa San Giovanni at the accommodation facility near the embarkation point for Sicily.
11 Scilla.
12 The Strait of Messina which divides mainland Italy from the island of Sicily. At the tip of the 235 m high pylon on the Sicilian shore. The pylons were used for the high voltage cables that now pass under the sea. They take the place of the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis who in mythology instilled terror in the sailors who passed through those places, including Ulysses who in Homer’s story lost part of his crew swallowed by the monster Scylla.
13 The modern National Museum of Magna Grecia in Reggio Calabria
The room is very spacious and also has a nice hydromassage shower. In truth I had always talked about Reggio Calabria and now I go to Reggio Calabria by train. You will wonder what to do. To see unique works of art recovered from the sea 50 years ago: the Riace Bronzes! I arrive at the museum thinking I will find an ancient building, but inside after the restoration it is a huge museum that is modern in form and also in substance. The visit starts from the top and descends with a route that is a dive into history, from the fossils of disappeared prehistoric animals, up to the Roman era. It is interesting to see the decorations on the temples, colored or with geometric designs that are very reminiscent of the black and white psychedelic effects of our 60s and 70s. Ultimately, the absolute beauty and aesthetics of the bronzes, the perfection always sought after in Greek art. I have been dreaming of this visit for a long time, I am enchanted by it, it is a shame not to be able to touch them, feel the consistency of the bronze, walk through the grain so faithfully reproduced. I go out and reward myself, after the visit to the cathedral, with a berry ice cream, it was only right! Tomorrow the adventure of returning by train awaits me, fingers crossed!
14 Riace bronze B. The old warrior king
15 Riace bronze B. The old warrior king and in background Riace broze A.
16 My reward for completing my trip successfully: a tasty ice cream with berries!
Here you can see the video of the stage
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