Fidenza to Chiavari – bike rides to the Italian coast

Also known by the medieval name of Borgo San Donnino, Fidenza is the most important and populous town in Parma after Parma itself. It has a station, a toll booth on the A1 and is well connected to both Parma and Piacenza. Therefore, the ninth crossing from Emilia to the sea starts from here. After a highly recommended visit to the cathedral of San Donnino, leave the province of Parma to enter that of Piacenza near Vigoleno.

In another fraction of the municipality of Vernasca, Borla, the road rises up and has significant slopes up to Bore. This and the next municipality in the upper Ceno valley that you will come across, Bardi, are wonderful pearls of the Emilian Apennines, full of charm, history and culinary tradition.

Several times you will find yourself swaying between an altitude of 500 and an altitude of 1,000 metres, for example at the Montevacca pass, also faced by the Giro Donne 2023. In Bedonia you go up the Taro up to Santa Maria and then go up again: almost without realizing it, you enter the splendid forest that surrounds the curves of the Bocco pass. Direct connection between the provinces of Parma and Genoa, the Bocco is well known to those who follow professional cycling. In 1994, a time trial stage arrived here in the eighteenth stage which allowed the Russian Evgeni Berzin to conquer his first and only Giro d'Italia. That day Berzin won and consolidated the lead over Indurain and Pantani.

But Bocco is also known for a tragedy. During the 2011 Giro, during the third stage from Reggio Emilia to Rapallo, Wouter Weylandt, a Belgian cyclist much loved by colleagues and fans, fell and lost his life on the descent towards Mezzanego. Plaques, flowers and commemorative phrases are still placed at the site of the accident.

Go past Mezzanego and Rivarola, Chiavari is around the corner. More than near the Entella river, I suggest you take a dip (or more than one, if possible) towards Cavi di Lavagna or Sestri Levante. You can return to Emilia by train.