I set out later than usual, because I wanted to watch the Fifa World Cup final match. I hope to gain from that a more stable climate. Since this year, I get into the habit of voting each stage with stars (max 5).

STAGE 1 - Milano-Asola, km. 151 ***
And actually my first day of travel is very sunny, almost too much. I head southwest along the Via Emilia up to Melegnano. From there I go to the San Bassiano church in Lodivecchio, and then to Lodi, where I visit the wonderful Incoronata, and go on to Abbadia Cerreto, Santa Maria di Bressanoro, Soncino. Coming to Asola I am a little tired, but also very happy, because the first day offered me many interesting things.

STAGE 2 - Rovigo, km. 142 **½
The sky is a little cloudy at leaving, but it's going to brighten in the afternoon, in exchange for a gusty contrary wind in the last 60 km. Sincerely I preferred the clouds. I come to Mantova passing through Casaloldo and Piùbega. Mantova deserves to stop over for a whole day, but in this case I'm content with a brief walk through the streets of the city centre. I take the state road 10 as far as the detour toward Badia Polesine, where there's the beautiful Abbazia della Vangadizza. The state road 499 leads me to Rovigo, after a hard fight against the wind.

STAGE 3 - Ravenna, km. 125,5 **½
I head towards the sea, and go for a stroll round the "delta del Po", in the area between Porto Tolle and Goro. Until 10 o'clock the sky is cloudy, but later it brightens. It's still very windy, but the direction of the wind is variable. I come back to the "Romea" road near Mesola, and from there I go straight to Ravenna, where I buy a unique ticket for visiting all the most important monuments of the city.

STAGE 4 - Bagno di Romagna, km. 97 **
Today my itinerary runs almost completely along the state road 71, with the only exception of a little tour on the hills for visiting Bertinoro and Polenta. From Bertinoro I can admire a huge panorama, thanks to the very bright and clear day, which makes at least phisically pleasant this stage, overall a bit boring.

STAGE 5 - Sansepolcro, km. 117 ***
A challenging stage: at leaving, immediately a climb, although not very hard: Passo dei Mandrioli (1173 m), 11 km with 6% of average slope. The downhill ends to Badia Prataglia, where begins the second uphill, to Passo Fangacci (1234 m), which is not as terrible as its name suggests. The average slope is very hard (8,5%), but the pain is brief: only 4,7 km. A little further there is the "Eremo di Camaldoli" and going on downhill I come to Poppi, that boasts a nice castle and a beautiful medieval village. Through Bibbiena and La Verna, in the end I come to Sansepolcro. Weather was ideal, today.

STAGE 6 - Fossombrone, km. 90,5 ***
The start is one more time uphill, to Bocca Trabaria (1049 m). The route in its higher part isn't particulary exciting, but the landscape becomes more pleasant on the downhill. Near Urbania I attend a curious comparison between snails, but I don't allow it distracts me, and I head with resolution toward Urbino, where I permit myself a promenade. It's bizarre that in this wonderful city the hundreds of likely photographic subjects are invariably spoiled by inopportune things like a rubbish bin, a car, a power line too showy. After 20 more km, I am in Fossombrone.

STAGE 7 - Città di Castello, km. 75,5 **
The programmed itinerary is a road parallel to the one along which I went yesterday, but heading west. The route begins with the breathtaking Gole del Furlo. I mix up a bit the new and the old road, but in the end I take the right one. The name of today's pass is Bocca Serriola: the road rises less than yesterday, only up to 730 m. I arrive in Citta di Castello very soon, and have many troubles in finding a room. After various failed attempts, my patience is rewarded. I remind here a general rule: when you arrive soon in a place, unlikely you'll have a double room as a single one, for a plain and well-founded reason. But after eight o'clock you'll not have any problems: many hotel keepers have at least a room for the emergencies. Of course, if you are two people, you'll find a room easily even arriving at 12 o'clock (a.m.).

STAGE 8 - Montepulciano, km. 82,5 ***
I head south through the road parallel to the main one, and, passed the Valico Gasparini (603 m), I throw myself onto the Trasimeno, surrounding it anticlockwise, and when I come to Castiglione del Lago, I leave the lake for reaching Montepulciano. It is another day of sunshine, in the late afternoon more than enough. Montepulciano (1, 2, 3) has a marvellous charm.

STAGE 9 - Massa Marittima, km. 120 *****
I go to Pienza, through a road of overcoming beauty. And Pienza (1, 2) is entirely worthy of its natural setting. I go on through the same road, coming shortly to San Quirico d'Orcia, well-known for its Collegiata. I take the state road 2 toward north, and after 30 km I turn left into a road pretty challenging that passes through two small villages: Vescovado and Lupompesi. I overtake a little dutch family, father, mother and child, each one with his bicycle (but daddy transports all the baggages). Clearly used to the northern flat lands, they go on calmly walking. Partly for solidarity, partly because the slope is really hard, partly because it's very hot, I cover a few hundreds of meters walking with them. Car traffic: zero. And then I arrive in San Galgano, one of the symbols of Tuscany. Going on through the same road, I come to Massa Marittima, wonderful city too. After such a day, one falls asleep floating in the blissfulness.

STAGE 10 - Colle di Val d'Elsa, km. 91 ***
At leaving the weather is very fine. Along the state road 439 I head north, rising then up to Volterra. The scenery is wonderful (1, 2, 3), and Volterra would be worthy of a stop, but the sky abruptly darkens, and a raging tempestuous wind is blowing. I had planned a visit to San Gimignano, but when I arrive in Castel San Gimignano the wind is so furious that I can hardly breathe. I leave the roadway, crouching down behind an embankement. Soon the wind calms down, and going on to Colle Val d'Elsa, I have to avoid broken branches, poles, fragments of fences all scattered on the roadway. In the last kilometers it rains a little, but I can reach my destination without any damage. Colle di Val d'Elsa is a delicious town.

STAGE 11 - San Piero a Sieve, km. 94 ***
I make straight for Firenze. The weather has become fine: the sun shines and the air is fresh. In Firenze (1, 2, 3) I take only a walk in the centre. I don't feel up to leaving my bicycle unwatched in a crowded place, but as the years go by I was going to quit this prudence. The worst thing that can happen, actually, is to find near your bicycle someone prepared to buttonhole you, but it's not obligatory to pay attention to them. If you are not in the mood for chat, you can pretend you are a foreigner. I leave Florence going along the state road 302, passing through Fiesole, and soon I am in Mugello, where I decide to stop over.

STAGE 12 - Modena, km. 126,5 **½
For a very long time I was in doubt about the indispensability of emphasizing so frequently the fragility of the roadsides, but from now on I'll pay more attention to the warning signs which concern it. I've just left San Piero a Sieve, when suddenly a marvellous view offered by a castle emerging from a huge sunflowers field catches my eye. I pull over, and put my right foot on the grassy shoulder. But under the grass there is nothing, and so, dragged down by the load of my bags, I overturn slowly but ineluctablely, ending up head-first on a hammock made with spiny lianas, 2-3 meters under the road level, observing with anxiety the waters of the river running calmly many meters beneath me. The vegetal net is very solid, and allows me to set myself on the right position. Meanwhile a woman who was coming by car saw me disappearing into thin air, and now, together with other people, helps me to remount quickly, after having recovered my bicycle which got stranded higher up. All things considered, I didn't have any injury, and I learnt that the warning signs usually are not driven into the ground simply for enjoyment, not even those that seem useless. By Futa and Raticosa passes, I come back to Emilia Romagna.

STAGE 13 - Offanengo, km. 163,5 **½
After having covered a fair distance along the "via Emilia", beyond Parma, I go and see the fortresses of Fontanellato (1, 2, 3, 4) and Soragna. Then I come to Crema, and after a few kilometers I end today's stage. In the last three days I haven't seen a cloud, and that comforts me very much in sight of the mountains.

STAGE 14 - Lovere, km. 77 *½
It's Sunday, and I allow myself a cushy day, with a short and easy stage. I arrive early and lapse into a long reviving sleep.

STAGE 15 - Edolo, km. 86,5 ***½
And now, at last, the mountains! Fortunately it's a sunny day, but it is misty too, and so I cannot tell anything about the Passo della Presolana apart from the altitude (1297 m), the length (km 6,7) and the average slope (7,9%) of the last part, calculated from Castione, even though the hardest climb begins before that village. At the end of the following downhill, I go on to Schilpario, after having faced a short but very hard slope near Azzone, and then I begin the fascinating and unacknowledged road to the Passo del Vivione (1828 m). The mist is lifting, and the sky is totally cloudy now, but it isn't going to rain, today. The strada statale del Vivione seems actually a cycle track, and in fact there is a very sparse traffic. Passing through uncontaminated woods and peaceful grasslands, I reach happily the top. The rapid and precipitous downhill in the Val Camonica, and the following short reascent up to Edolo, end a good day in which I have covered a rise of nearly 2500 meters.

STAGE 16 - Santa Caterina Valfurva, km. 50,5 ****½
Here comes the day in which I face my first alpine colossus: the Gavia. Some years before, at the Giro d'Italia, a heavy snowfall surprised the riders just as they attacked the climb, and that episode has increased the awful reputation of this mountain. In 1990 long parts of the ascent are still a dirt road, just where the slope is harder. With my 44x27, the wheels slip on gravel, and in order to rise, I'm forced to get out of the saddle. But particularly in the final part, the reward for my effort is very satisfying: I can admire a landscape typical of places that normally can be reached only by foot. On the top, at 2652 m. of altitude, as the weather holds, I have a drink (I carried the solid food) in the mountain hut-restaurant, where you can see posters of that by then historic day of the snow over the Giro. The woman who serves me says that it was a beautiful day, "like today" she says, but suddenly the sky darkened and it was the end of the world. I leave again. The downhill to Valtellina is narrow, but perfectly asphalted. The landscape is still beautiful. The slope is more gentle on this side; if someone wants to come in these places by bicycle especially for admiring the landscape, I advise to ascend from Bormio. I stop in Santa Caterina Valfurva, in order to avoid to leave again tomorrow with hard uphill. The woman who waits in the restaurant is very kind, and serves me everything twice, one for the Gavia already climbed, and one for the Stelvio, that I'm going to climb tomorrow.

STAGE 17 - Silandro, km. 87 *****
After the Gavia, here comes the second giant: the Stelvio. Whilst I climbed the Gavia by the hardest side, I'm going to climb the Stelvio by the easiest way, but it's however a climb 22 km long that leads to an altitude of 2758 meters, with an average slope of 7% (and at the Piana del Braulio the road flattens for a long way). In this case, the most spectacular side is the hardest one, and I am happy to cover it going downhill (1, 2). Then I visit Glorenza, a little town surrounded with walls, having strange houses, and finally I take the state road 40 and come to Silandro.

STAGE 18 - Vigo di Fassa, km. 101,5 ***½
I go quickly through Merano and Bolzano, and take the fascinating Val d'Ega, a very deep crevice in the rock the entry of which is defended by a castle perched on the impossible. The road later comes in the open, and climbs toward the Passo di Costalunga (1745 m), passing along the celebrated Lago di Carezza. Unfortunately I must go in a hurry, because of the possibility of storms; but I arrive in Vigo di Fassa dry and happy.

STAGE 19 - Agordo, km. 77,5 ****
Todays there is another famous pass: the Pordoi. The difficulty of this climb is absolutely incomparable with other great passes, but as for beauty the Passo Pordoi (2239 m) can compete in equal terms. The contrary wind in the last part of the itinerary doesn't ruin the taste of a good day, that ends in Agordo.

STAGE 20 - Cavalese, km. 90 ***½
After having passed the Forcella Aurine (1299 m) and the Passo di Cereda (1369 m) in a humid and misty climate, I come to Fiera di Primiero, where the climb of Passo Rolle (1970 m) begins. In the route there's San Martino di Castrozza, which usually offers a wonderful outlook over the Pale di San Martino. Not today, however, because of the mist. Refused the Pale, I revenge myself admiring a fine specimen of an ornitobonte fossile. I like very much the Val di Fassa, through which I go up to Cavalese.

STAGE 21 - Madonna di Campiglio, km. 110 ***
I go down to Ora with extreme prudence, because the steering of my bicycle - perhaps an inheritance of the accident in Mugello - plays up. I go along the fascinating Strada del Vino. From the vineyards, belfries with the strangest shapes pop up frequently (in San Nicolò, for example). Then I climb the Passo della Mendola (1363 m), by a very pleasant road. Unfortunately it's very misty today. After the downhill, I come in the bright Val di Sole. In Dimaro I turn left toward the Passo Campo Carlo Magno (1681 m): there is an uphill of 16 km pretty challenging in the first eight. After a short downhill I am received and welcome in Madonna di Campiglio by my relatives and friends.

I covered 2146 km in 21 days and... had a very good time!