No pre-breakfast walk this morning, after yesterday’s heat I promised myself to leave quite early as today too the day promises to be hot and I will have to travel almost entirely on board the railway, in any case in the open countryside. So after breakfast at the Pico hotel at 8:30am I’m ready to go. I head towards San Felice avoiding going through the Mirandola station where the cycle path of the Sun begins and I will cross it a little further down, avoiding a few useless kilometres. After 5 km I enter the Sole cycle path and a good morning is given to me by the flight over of a stork, having left the San Matteo di Medolla ecological rebalancing area, impossible to take the camera, it passed in an instant .
Photo 2: Breakfast at the Pico hotel which commemorates Pico della Mirandola (philosopher with such a great memory as to become proverbial, he knew how to recite the Divine Comedy backwards, he died poisoned in Florence in 1494 at the age of 31) Photo 3: Rest area on the Ciclopista del Sole with assistance equipment for bicycles
The route is indicated by a stylized sun painted on the asphalt, or on the signs indicating the various detours. In fact it is practically a motorway for bicycles from Mirandola to Bologna, but it suffers interruptions especially near the larger towns such as Crevalcore and San Giovanni in Persiceto. In fact, once I get to Crevalcore, I too go out because an uncontrollable desire for fruit assails me. I enter the village and in all the streets of the center a very lively market offers various merchandise. I notice the difference between the street vendors of the past and the current ones who are mostly Chinese or of other nationalities, very few Italians. I find a fruit and vegetable stand, buy two bananas and some apricots.
Photo 4: The market in Crevalcore Photo 5: The church of San Giovanni in Persiceto Photo 6: The benches in San Giovanni in Persiceto inspired by modern artists (Piet Mondrian)
I take the road and rightly go back to pick it up where I left off. A coypu attempting to commit suicide by emerging from a side ditch looks terrified at me as I steer trying to avoid the impact. I see the terror in its eyes as it sees the terror in mine. I notice that its mustache has turned white, was it the fright? In San Giovanni in Persiceto things get complicated. Entering the village I am attracted by the benches near the town hall, all painted to reproduce famous paintings, what a beautiful and intelligent person who had and authorized such an initiative. Obviously I also want a photo sitting on a bench like this and I choose the one inspired by Piet Mondrian with horizontal planes! To get out of San Giovanni I have two applications set in bicycle mode, but the indications are far from perfect, indeed very often divergent. I wander around the outskirts of San Giovanni asking more people where this cursed cycle path is. If you leave the path, there are no indications to find it again.
Photo 7: Expanses of wheat and poppies
At one point I see the sun symbol on the ground right next to a railway underpass, and off I go. To be safe, I ask a lady if I’m going in the right direction for Bologna, of course not! I turn the bike and go back to where I came from looking for the sign I didn’t see… there it is! It wasn’t the only mistake, I’ve made more than one, but it’s part of the normality and beauty of a trip. The via Emilia towards Bologna is “well” frequented by young ladies who stroll along the roadside. I have the last banana, but I’m refraining from eating it right here, it doesn’t feel very appropriate! I wait to arrive in the square of a supermarket, a much quieter place.
Photo 8: The fountain of Neptune in Bologna Photo 9: The fountain of Neptune in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna Photo 10: The Basilica of San Petronio in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna
But how big Bologna is. From the Bologna sign, more than 10 km to get to the centre, in Piazza Maggiore. I try to park the bike, but a truck arrives with concrete blocks to unload right in Piazza Maggiore and makes me move making me detach the chain and unrepeatable words also descend. I take some photos in Nettuno and San Petronio and look for a restaurant in some side street
Photo 11: A nice parmesan risotto Photo 12: The key to the city of Bologna Photo 13: The arcades of Bologna, a Unesco World Heritage Site Photo 14: The Asinelli tower (right 98 meters) The Garisenda tower (left 48 meters), the two most famous towers, but Bologna has another 20 towers
Advertising is the soul of commerce. And so as an advice for purchases, in the corners of the arcades of Bologna, where the sound spreads from all sides, I launch mine: “Read Diomira, read Diomira” almost a Votantonio of Decurtisian memory. After a photo at the Asinelli tower I proceed towards Sasso Marconi. Halfway there I find a gentleman, also on a bicycle, who gives me all the directions to get to Porretta Terme tomorrow. Having understood everything, I get lost in the hills of Bologna, only I don’t have the Cremonini Vespa 50 special. Arrived where a dirt road begins, a company is going down the Via degli Dei and stops me saying: “Look, it’s all mud, go back”. Not wanting to go back, I make a detour to go and get the bridge over the Rhine, it’s 50 meters below me!!
Photo 15: The longed-for bridge after tackling a route from Camel Thophy Photo 16: At the end of dinner, I deserved a nice sweet!
Practically a Camel Trophy! A path, but what am I saying, in my part is called scaranto, completely excavated by the water which forces me to keep the wheels on the edge and I walk along the ditch, getting muddy and crawling with my arms and legs when I am unable to keep my bike at all times with the brakes on. With a classic and inevitable last jump of a couple of meters on the rock, the vaio ends up in the Reno river. I hold the bike and can barely keep my hands on the handlebars and brakes. Last not inconsiderable effort, I manage to get off the bike along the valley floor path. I did it, I tried to push away the negative thought of not making it, but I’m out of breath, that’s all. There is no time to lose, I cross the iron bridge over the Reno and after several other detours I arrive in the center of Sasso Marconi. I would like to get to Marzabotto, but there are no accommodation facilities apart from a few b&b in the hills, but they have nothing to give me to eat, so I look for a nearby hotel and I must say I was lucky, a good hotel with a restaurant where I also ate gargantuan dinner, I needed it. Today 90 km, the last 15 really troubled. Tomorrow towards Pistoia climbing over the Apennines, if I can’t make it I’ll stop earlier.
Quando leggerai le prossime puntate capirai, nel mio blog trovi l’originale!!! 
