This article was originally published in edition 135 of the Rouleur magazine, which you can subscribe to here. It was produced in collaboration with IO SONO FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA.
On Saturday May 24, Gorizia will host the finish of the 14th stage of the Giro d’Italia, in what may be one of the last opportunities for the sprinters. The region is one of the smallest of the Bel Paese, but it offers a diversity of landscapes capable of satisfying the most demanding of travellers. From the golden beaches of the Adriatic to the Julian and Carnic Alps, from the lowland lagoons to the gentle hills of Collio, from the history-rich cities of the plain to the Dolomites, Friuli Venezia Giulia is a synthesis of all the beauty of the Italian peninsula.
The region’s proximity to Central Europe, where cycle tourism is booming, has pushed the local administration to make a big bet on bicycle infrastructure. The Regional Plan for Cycling Mobility has identified five regional cycle routes of interest to tourists, and designed a series of circular itineraries which can be covered in one or more days. One of these routes is part of the European cycle network – the Alpe Adria, which goes from Salzburg in Austria to Grado on Friuli Venezia Giulia’s Adriatic coast. From Grado it is easy to reach Gorizia but also possible to continue to Trieste, Venice and Ravenna on the EuroVelo 8 path. But it’s not all coastal flatlands: cyclists hungry for climbs can sate their hunger for steep gradients inland. Whether tackled from Sutrio or Ovaro, Monte Zoncolan is one of the most exhilarating challenges for a grimpeur. Cima Sappada is decidedly more accessible, and another place intimately linked with Giro d’Italia history – the site of Stephen Roche’s ‘betrayal’ of Roberto Visentini in 1987, when the Irishman took the pink jersey by attacking his own team-mate. The Piancavallo climb, on which Marco Pantani’s triumphant march to the 1998 Giro title took place, is a beautiful balcony over the Pordenone plain. And after famously deciding the 2023 Giro in favour of Primož Roglič over Geraint Thomas, the road to Monte Lussari has also been opened up to road cyclists from June through August, but only if they ride uphill. A couple of sections at 22 per cent and an average gradient that is over 15 per cent for five kilometres makes descending hazardous – instead riders must take the paid cable car down.
Until the early 1900s, Gorizia was a holiday resort of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Having crossed the Alps, the Viennese nobility and bourgeoisie built their second homes here, with good proximity to the Adriatic sea and Trieste. Over time, Gorizia’s multi-ethnicity has translated into a cultural offering which reflects its geographical position of being peripheral in Italy and central in a continental context. The programme of Go! 2025 – a calendar of events organised in co-operation with Gorizia and Nova Gorica – is characterised by cosmopolitan and international scope, and includes exhibitions, conferences, concerts, ballets, marches and more, through to the end of the year.
The ancient heart of Gorizia is its castle, an 11th-century fortification that dominates the city and has been modified and adapted over the years, through design and happenstance, for example following the bombings of World War One. At its foot sits the Piazza della Vittoria, overlooked by the church of Sant’Ignazio. This was an ideal starting point for the cycle-tourist itineraries we followed. From here, it is just over a kilometre to Rafut, where the Museo del Lasciapassare and Museo del Contrabbando are located. This is a multimedia exhibition that tells stories, sometimes bordering on the grotesque, of life on the border. For example those of the farmers who, starting in 1947, had to walk for miles to reach properties only a few metres from their home, but in a different country. Or those of the commercial exchanges that took place between Italy and Yugoslavia: cigarettes, records, t-shirts, jeans and shoes exchanged for meat, jam, honey and cheap sweets. Or those linked to Sunday August 13, 1950, the day when thousands of Yugoslavs, heedless of the attempts of President Tito’s border guards to stop them, broke into Italian territory unauthorised to embrace their loved ones and buy western goods. The shops literally sold out of sorghum brooms, and this day of peaceful invasion has gone down in history as ‘Broom Sunday’. At the end of the Second World War, when the victors redrew the borders of the vanquished, Countess Lyduska, a noblewoman from Gorizia, contacted her friend Sarah Churchill to lobby her father Winston to deviate the borderline by a few metres so as to keep her villa on Italian territory. Through the late 1940s, the reality of the new frontier transformed Gorizia from a tourist centre to one in which more profits were made from surveillance and the exchange economy.
A kilometre along the cycle path built along the border line, we reach Piazza Transalpina. From 1947 to 2004 this space was divided by a wall, just like Berlin until 1989. In the three years after 2004, Slovenia joined the Schengen area, with the subsequent elimination of customs and border crossings, and once again free movement was possible in the Piazza della Transalpina. All the physical barriers between Gorizia and Nova Gorica were dismantled in 2007. In front of the sumptuous train station, the square is now an open space, symbolising the open border and society in which it sits.
A metal plaque set into the pavement demarcates the actual border, and a few metres away, the Italian, Slovenian and European flags fly. From this place, which perfectly represents the bumpy path of European integration with all its complications, we traverse the centre of Gorizia to cross the Isonzo, known as Soča in Slovenian, on the Ponte del Torrione. From here the road begins to climb towards the hills of Collio. A couple of kilometres later, we arrive at the majestic Oslavia Military Shrine, which holds the bones of more than 57,000 soldiers who fell in World War One. Not far away, in present-day Slovenian territory, stands the imposing Mount Sabotino.
The slopes kick up a bit more when we reach San Floriano del Collio, the last town before crossing the border into Slovenia, where the Collio hills become, in the local name, Brda. The landscape on both sides of the border is dominated by vineyards. Between Hum and Kojsko, in the town of Stegaršče, it is worth making a short detour to the charming little church of Sveti Kritž. At the end of a ramp worthy of an Ardennes wall, we find one of the many windows of the Collio Brda Welcome Project, small covered structures set up with a table and designed to allow tourists to admire the view. Once back on the main road, we reach Gonjače, at 296 metres our highest point. After a kilometre of descent we arrive at Šmartno, San Martino Collio in the Italian translation. This fortified village is surrounded by walls, with five towers still standing and the eponymous church, the largest in Brda. The fortifications are evidence of this place’s strategic importance in the past – from the 16th to the 18th century, the Habsburgs defended this outpost from the Venetians. Šmartno offers one of the most fascinating views of the entire Brda. The gaze stretches as far as the eye can see to the plain of Friuli Venezia Giulia, surrounded by Alpine views.
The climbs that will take the riders to Šmartno and, shortly after, to Gonjače, will be the only difficulty of the 14th stage of the Giro d’Italia, and it will not be the first time that the Giro d’Italia has passed through the hills of Collio. In Medana, an old Pinarello painted pink is a harbinger of May sport. Even if Tadej Pogačar will not be competing this year, it is easy to imagine that the Slovenian fans will pour out onto the streets to cheer on Primož Roglič, who at the age of 35 will try to repeat his pink jersey success of two years ago. Eight of the last 15 Grand Tours have been won by Slovenian riders, and in 2024 there was even a hat-trick of titles, the fourth ever, a feat only previously achieved by France in 1964, Spain in 2008 and Great Britain in 2018. Perfect asphalt, roads with little traffic and a series of bike lanes to improve the safety of those who ride make Collio Brda a cyclist-friendly territory.
The descent towards Gradič closes our loop on the ridge road and marks the return to Italian territory. With a bit of luck, pedalling in the Preval Marshes you can admire the wetland birds, and our passage causes uproar in a gaggle of geese. The two ramps of Ceglo and Subida precede our arrival in Cormons, a town known for wine production, in which two native appellations stand out: Friulano and Ribolla Gialla. Every year, close to the autumn equinox, Cormons hosts the start and finish of the Collio Brda Classic, a cycling race that takes place in the hills of Gorizia. The ride, which is reserved for vintage bicycles, alternates asphalt and dirt roads, crosses the border into Slovenian territory and rewards participants with local food and wine specialties. After Cormons the route becomes flat: Medea and Mariano del Friuli precede our arrival in Gradisca d’Isonzo, another town whose strategic importance in military history is revealed by the well-preserved city walls. Crossing the bridge over the Isonzo, we go up its left bank, arriving in the industrial area of Gorizia where we enter a cycle path that takes us back to the starting point.
The lagoon itinerary starts from the city centre and follows the road that runs along the Isonzo to the small hamlet of Peteano. The road that leads to the Carso, scene of fierce battles during World War One, begins here, and the start of the climb is at 12 per cent; subsequently the gradients become less steep. What until a century ago was a sterile ridge dotted with war remnants and trenches is now forest. In three and a half kilometres, we climb up to the 260 metres of Monte San Michele, from whose belvedere we enjoy an extraordinary panorama. The vegetation has swallowed up the battlefields of the Great War, but not the walkways, caves and shelters used during the conflict. It is in these places that the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti recounted the harrowing experience of the war, as recalled by a path that runs through the woods on this hill. The descent leads to San Martino del Carso, then to Doberdò del Lago and then to Ronchi dei Legionari, home to Trieste airport, which is ideally located for cycle travellers.
From Trieste’s port, following a series of secondary roads, we cross the Isonzo to reach Aquileia. In the second century, this small town a few kilometres from the Adriatic, with 100,000 inhabitants, was one of the most populous cities in the world. Founded by the Romans in 181 BC, Aquileia is one of the richest archaeological sites in northern Italy. The heart of the historic centre is the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, a shining example of early Christian architecture that houses the oldest Christian mosaic, the largest in the West at 760 square metres. Traces of the ancient splendour of this site are everywhere: in the Roman Forum, in the remains of the River Port, in the Domus and in the Episcopal Palace. For lovers of mosaic art, Aquileia is an essential destination. The town is located on the final stretch of the Alpe Adria, the 410-kilometre cycle path that connects Salzburg and Grado and which in the regional network of Friuli Venezia Giulia is identified as FVG1. Pedalling for five kilometres along the path we reach Pontile Belvedere, a town that marks the entrance to the lagoon and the most spectacular cycling section of the entire itinerary, four and a half kilometres of road in the middle of the lagoon, to reach Grado. Connected to the mainland since 1936, this town is known as the ‘daughter of Aquileia and mother of Venice’. It was here, in 452 AD, that the inhabitants of Aquileia took refuge to escape the plundering of the Huns and it was from here that the local patriarchs migrated to Venice, the current capital of Veneto, in the early Middle Ages. In the historic centre, the Basilica of Sant’Eufemia, the baptistery and the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie are a vivid testimony ofxx the overlap between the twilight of Roman domination and the expansion of Christianity.
The historic centre of Grado is where we turn for home. The ride continues towards Grado Pineta and, subsequently, towards the Regional Nature Reserve of Valle Cavanata, with a series of farm roads leading to Fossalon di Grado to cross the Isonzo on the bridge that precedes its mouth. Near Trieste airport we find the cycle path that leads to Ron-chi dei Legionari, and from here the return to Gorizia follows the Anello della Grande Guerra. We pass through Redipuglia, a town located at the foot of the Carso where we find the Military Shrine that houses the remains of 100,000 fallen during World War One. We cross the river once more, reaching Gradisca d’Isonzo, and then we cycle for about 10 kilometres to Lucinico and from there back to the starting point.
The variety of landscapes within a single day of cycling is not the only strong point of Friuli Venezia Giulia. In this crossroads of cultures, the cycling experience is a space-time movement that allows us, in a few dozen kilometres, to gaze upon a medieval castle, a Roman Forum, a shrine from World War One and austere architecture from the Habsburg era. A mix of nature and culture that, thanks to the mild climate, can be enjoyed in all seasons.
