BIKE-TOUR PROGRAM (DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM / BIKE TYPE: CITY BIKE) FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA BIKE-TOUR: THE HILLS Period: 5 days (4 nights) Locality: Gradisca d’Isonzo, Laghi di Doberdò e Pietrarossa, Sistiana, Strada del Vino Terrano, Monrupino, Opicina, Trieste, Redipuglia, Dolina dei Bersaglieri, San Martino del Carso, Gorizia, Capriva, Castello di Spessa, Cormons, Plessiva, Ruttars, Rocca Bernarda, Cividale Description: For its geographical conformation and its nature sceneries, Friuli Venezia Giulia offers countless possibilities to bike fans: itineraries on the plains, up the hills or to the mountains, with difficulty from easy to medium, to champions style. This itinerary for city bikes in region’s hills is a tour among nature, history and wine production. Nature because the courses develop entirely in greenery, among Natural Reserves, karstic vegetation and vineyards. History because you will know the places where First World War was fought. Wine production because on these hills sprout the wines of “Collio”, “Carso” and “Colli Orientali”, which are exported to all over the world. You will know all this with 2 vehicles at disposal for the assistance and a certified bike guide. The course of this route is undulating, and, as for soil type, develops on asphalt, on backroads with low traffic, with only brief ways on medium traffic roads. Brief tracks on the First World War places will be traveled on white roads in good condition. 1st day – GRADISCA D’ISONZO / LAGHI DI DOBERDO’ E PIETRAROSSA Morning arrival and settling in the Hotel Franz 3* in Gradisca d’Isonzo. Meeting with the certified bike guide. Here the group will find an 8 seater van (Fiat Scudo or similar), which will be at disposal for the days of bike excursions, and the city bikes, which will be carried in a second van driven by the certified bike guide during the transfers. Gradisca d'Isonzo, situated at 32 metres above sea level, is a fifteenth-century fortress built on the right bank of the Isonzo by the Venetians with the contribution of Leonardo Da Vinci, to face the Turkish invasions. Walking around the streets of the Old Town, you will find the XV Century Casa dei Provveditori Veneti and Torriani Palace, which houses the Town Documentary Museum and “Luigi Spazzapan” Gallery of Contemporary Art. Lunch (not included in price). In the afternoon, first ride on the Karst (“Carso”). Starting from hotel, you will follow a ring as far as the Natural Reserve of Lakes of Doberdò and Pietrarossa, then return to hotel. Distance: 20 km approximately The Regional Nature Reserve of Doberdò and Pietrarossa lakes lies on the western boundary of the karst plateau. The area features two karst depressions partially occupied by lakes and separated by a ridge: the larger depression houses the Doberdò lake, one of the few karst lakes in Europe. The area is populated by a large variety of mammals, from the more common species such as roe deer to other, less easily sighted species such as the golden jackal. In the Regional Nature Reserve of Doberdò and Pietrarossa lakes, the lake ecosystem contrasts with the surrounding barrenness of the karst environment, hence the protected area's high biodiversity. Dinner (not included in price) and overnight stay. 2nd day – SISTIANA / STRADA DEL VINO TERRANO / MONRUPINO / OPICINA / TRIESTE Breakfast. Meeting with the certified bike guide and transfer by van to Sistiana. In the morning the course starts from Sistiana: here starts the “Terrano wine Road” (“Strada del vino terrano”), which develop inside the heart of Karst. Its name derives from the wine “Terrano”, the most typical wine of these heights. The road is punctuated by little villages, farms and the typical “osmize”, where we will stop for a tasting of wines, Karst raw ham and cheeses. The second stop is planned in the typical village of Monrupino: from the top of Monrupino’s hill you can have a wonderful view of Trieste’s gulf. The route ends at Opicina’s obelisk, which has a commanding position overlooking Trieste. Distance: 25 km approximately From Sistiana to Opicina, crossing the villages of Malchina, San Pelagio, Sales, Sgonico, Rupinpiccolo, Rupingrande, Monrupino and others, along the “Terrano wine road”. The Carso (Karst) is a harsh and fascinating headland dotted with little stone hamlets with a marvellous view over the blue sea. In the typical “osmize”, kind of inns marked by bushes hanging along the road, you can taste the delicious typical products created here alone. Wines (like Terrano, with its ruby red colour and the fragrance of wild berries, and Vitovska, a fine and elegant white), cheeses (the Carso produces cow, sheep and goat's milk cheeses) and the Karst raw ham: dark, tasty and with a strong personality, it is flavoured with garlic, bay leaves and rosemary. Stop in a typical “osmiza” for the tasting of wine, Karst raw ham and cheeses. After the tasting, starting towards Monrupino, one of the Karst’s most symbolic villages. Monrupino stands on a hill with all around sharp inclines from which it is possible to enjoy a suggestive scenery of the Gulf of Trieste and of the near Slovenian lands. Its sanctuary built over the scenic Rocca in honour of Blessed Virgin Mary (Beata Vergine Assunta) represents, since the medieval times, an important place of pilgrimages for the people of the Carso and Trieste. There is also the “Karst House”, a house museum dating that has retained all the architectural features typical of the rural tradition of the Carso. Arrival in Opicina and lunch (not included in price). In the afternoon, transfer by van to Trieste and visit by bike of the most “Central European” italian city. Distance: 20 km approximately We will take a tour in the city centre of Trieste to visit its main sites: ‘Piazza Unità’ square, which lies at the heart of the city and is sometimes referred to as the sitting room on the sea, the ‘Teresiano’ district, nerve centre of the commercial activities of the city under the Hapsburg Empire (which also takes its name from the Empress ‘Maria Teresa’) with its wonderful neo- classical architecture, places of worship of many religions (including a synagogue and an orthodox church), Roman archeological remains, from the Roman theatre to the Arch of ‘Riccardo’, the “Palazzo degli Incanti” with its exhibitions. Then, following Barcola’s Riviera, we will reach the Castle of Miramare, the famous Hapsburg manor, for the inside visit. Return to the hotel by van and with the assistance van driven by the certified bike guide. Dinner (not included in price) and overnight stay. 3rd day – GRADISCA D’ISONZO / REDIPUGLIA / DOLINA DEI BERSAGLIERI / SAN MARTINO DEL CARSO / GORIZIA Breakfast. In the morning, start of a full day in the places of First World War. In the period between May 1915 and November 1917, Friuli Venezia Giulia staged the fights between the Italian and the Austro-Hungarian armies, which faced each other harshly for several months. Karst, Isonzo area, Julian Alps and Pre-Alps, Carnic Alps and the hilly area along the Tagliamento line were the locations of fights, whereas the whole plain became a large area behind the front line in the service of the armed forces and was later invaded by the Austro-German troops after the defeat of Caporetto (Kobarid). The signs of those battles can still be seen in various places of the region, thanks to open-air Museums, which feature the remains of the war structures built and used by many soldiers: kilometres of trenches, remains of emplacements, monuments. Our route develops in Isonzo area: from Redipuglia to Gorizia, crossing the “Dolina dei Bersaglieri” and the village of San Martino del Carso. Distance: 25 km approximately First stop: Redipuglia, the largest Italian military Sacrarium. Redipuglia rises up on the western front of the Monte Sei Busi, which, in the First World War was bitterly fought after because, although it was not very high, from its summit it allowed an ample range of access from the West to the first steps of the Karstic table area. The monumental staircase on which the remains of one hundred thousand fallen soldiers are lined up and which has at its base the monolith of the Duke of Aosta, who was the commanding officer of the third Brigade, and gives an image of a military grouping in the field of a Great Unity with its Commanding Officer at the front. From Redipuglia it starts our route on the heights of the First World War. You will cross the open-air Museum of “Dolina dei Bersaglieri”, between trenches and tunnels, then the Monumental Area of Mount San Michele, 275 metres high, the main Austro-Hungarian defence bastion on the Isonzo Karst, fiercely contested between Italians and Austro-Hungarians already in the first year of the First World War due to its important position (the highest on the Karst Plateau). Finally, we will stop in the village of San Martino del Carso, made immortal by the poetry of Giuseppe Ungaretti, the poet-soldier who fought in this area during the war. Arrival in Gorizia and lunch (not included in price). In the afternoon, time at disposal for the free visit of Gorizia, the city at the border with Slovenia. Located at the foot of the ‘Collio’ area, with its medieval castle which stands over the city on its hill, Gorizia is the border-city par excellence: in the ‘Transalpina’ square, until 2004 physically divided by the border, you can now stroll with one foot in Italy and the other in Slovenia. Gorizia was of strategic importance during the First World War: in your itinerary you can visit the Museum of the Great War.