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Two thousand six hundred kilometres, fourteen Italian regions touched, more than three hundred municipalities crossed and twenty-six parks and protected areas.
We're not giving numbers: this is all you can find along the Apennine Cycle Route, the longest cycle route in Italy.
The project dedicated to sustainable tourism, created by citizens and associations and financed by institutions, covers almost all of Italy, from Liguria to Sicily.
The campaign organized by Legambiente and Vivi Appennino, “Apennines Bike Tour", the Giro dell'Italia that you don't expect, from 16 July to 8 August the route, which starts from Altare (SV) to Alia (PA), will come alive with beautiful initiatives throughout Italy, touching protected areas and small villages, also rewarding the "Ambassadors of the Apennines", i.e. people who have distinguished themselves for activities in support of the initiative.
With the “Appennino Bike Tour”” initiative, a team of cyclists, together with Legambiente and ViviAppennino, will travel the entire cycle route, stopping at all 44 stages where there will be events, tastings and conferences.
Furthermore, the Climate Pact for the Apennines will also be presented, a commitment that Legambiente and ViviAppennino will ask local mayors to join, to create a single network of municipalities active for the environment and the reduction of pollution.
Finally, the rest areas and cycle workshop will be inaugurated with columns dedicated to charging e-bikes, thus making the entire cycle route fully equipped for every type of cyclist.
“In the year in which there is a real boom in cycle tourism, the Apennine Cycle Route will be an opportunity for the country to restart", reported Stefano Ciafani, National President of Legambiente, "It is an applied example of ecological transition, a way to enhance internal areas and small Italian villages with sustainable tourism and mobility. The route of the Apennine Cycle Route will promote the entire territorial system crossed, creating work and employment for the activities already present along the route and an opportunity for the establishment of new businesses, including youth ones. Furthermore, the maintenance and use of already existing and underused secondary roads will be a way to give an immediate and zero land consumption response to the demand for cycle tourism which is literally exploding in our country”.
“The Apennine Cycle Route, the eleventh national tourist cycle route", explains Enrico Della Torre, general director of Vivi Appennino and creator of the project, "was financed with two million euros for the installation of the signs by the Ministry of Sustainable Transport and Mobility. For autumn 2021, the definitive route and the tourist graphics of the route will be delivered to the Ministry which will then be able to proceed with the implementation of the signs, tabulating the Apennine Bike Tour itinerary for summer 2022. At the moment the cycle route, whose The route goes from Altare in Liguria to Alia in Sicily, but can still be followed using the tracks that can be downloaded from the site www.appenninobiketour.it”.
The issue of infrastructure is also very important: throughout the itinerary, which is well signposted and protected, there is a constant service to assist cycle tourists.
In fact, at each point there is a small cycle workshop with useful tools for repairing bicycles, e-bike charging stations, racks, seats, an information panel and a QRcode where you can download the route map.