The best road cycling routes around Cogorno

Very beautiful views of Rapallo and the bay to Portofino

beautiful, quiet pass with picnic area

A beautiful village perched in the Ligurian Apennines. It's worth stopping to see the well-preserved walls of the Malaspina Fieschi Doria Castle, for an excellent coffee at Bar Leon D'oro, and especially for the "Gobeletti" pastries from the Chiesa pastry shop.

Climbing from Cicagna (north side) and passing through the hamlet of Dezerega, the road is mostly paved, with sections reaching gradients of over 20%. You gain 500 meters of elevation gain in about 5 km. It's very shaded, and from the Crocetta Pass, Rapallo is just a short drive away.

Situated at 956 meters between the Vara and Aveto Valleys, the Bocco Pass is one of the historic passes of the Ligurian Apennines, used since ancient times as a connection between the Tyrrhenian coast and the Po Valley hinterland. Already in Roman times, it was part of a secondary transit network, but it was especially in the Middle Ages and modern times that the pass assumed a central role in local traffic: a route for merchants, shepherds, and pilgrims, it connected Chiavari and the Riviera with Varese Ligure and the Emilian plains. Traces of the ancient paving are still visible today in the surrounding woods. During the Second World War, the area served as a refuge for partisan groups, thanks to its secluded location and dense forest cover. Today, the pass is a destination for cyclists and hikers, immersed in an unspoiled mountain landscape of beech and fir forests and highland meadows, at the gateway to the Aveto Regional Natural Park.

Beautiful view upon returning from the ring of the slate path.

February 15, 1945, La Squazza Massacre: On February 14, 1945, an Alpine soldier from Monterosa, a certain Mantovani, was in the La Squazza area (municipality of Borzonasca), heading towards the Forcella pass, where a contingent of Alpine soldiers was stationed. Some partisans recognized him as the one who had seen the mine system being laid around the Forcella stronghold. They then decided to capture him to get him to reveal the operation and exact location of the minefield and organized an ambush. But, while they were ordering him to “put your hands up!”, a group of German soldiers appeared on the road and a firefight ensued, during which Mantovani (probably shot by a Nazi) and a German were fatally shot. The partisans suffered no losses. The Nazi-fascist retaliation was immediate and ferocious and on February 15, ten partisans were taken from the prisons of Chiavari and transported on a truck to La Squazza, where they were murdered. The then deputy commissioner of the “Coduri”, “Miro” recounts that the ten partisans who were shot were left for three days in full view of everyone, with no one being allowed to attend to the funeral. The owner of the hotel in La Squazza, however, had approached the martyrs to try to bring them some, vain, help. "Miro" himself, when the news reached him, was charged, together with "Baffo", sent by the Area Command, to go to the site of the massacre to proceed with the identification of the bodies. Having arrived near La Squazza by chance, after having been targeted by mortar fire from the Alpine troops of Forcella, the two partisans took advantage of the guidance of an elderly local lady and her daughter, whom they met on the path, who collaborated with them until they got closer to the site of the massacre.

Magical and unique port