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Download PDF - Blue Liguria - Sagep

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lue<br />

itineraries<br />

land, can boast of so much beauty<br />

on 70 km of cycling paths, with<br />

plans to increase that to almost a<br />

thousand, half of which in<br />

protected areas, or in other words,<br />

as far from fumes as are those that<br />

have been created up till now.<br />

The longest route – around thirty<br />

kilometers – is along the eastern<br />

Riviera on the Via dell’Oro Nero,<br />

the Way of Black Gold, which in<br />

<strong>Liguria</strong> is slate, that valuable stone<br />

which serves for everything here<br />

from blackboards to roofing to<br />

works of art. The way begins in<br />

Lavagna to end in Gattorna,<br />

partially on its own path, partially<br />

on secondary roads, all immersed<br />

in nature, to then turn towards<br />

the mountains letting the cyclist<br />

discover landscapes<br />

that he has never<br />

seen before. Called<br />

the Ciclovia<br />

dell’ardesia, it is<br />

also for pedestrians,<br />

as it crosses villages<br />

and offers places to<br />

eat. The shortest<br />

cycling path instead<br />

is named after<br />

Fabrizio de Andrè, in<br />

Arenzano it is a<br />

good place to have<br />

children begin as it is perfectly<br />

flat, short, and offers beautiful<br />

landscape that is “reassuring”.<br />

Well worth your while.<br />

Also full of fascination is the<br />

newest cycle path, which goes<br />

from Framura to Levanto, the<br />

door onto the Cinque Terre, on a<br />

former railway line under the<br />

mountains, alternating tunnels<br />

with open tracts that are extremely<br />

picturesque as they jut over the<br />

sea, crossing on basaltic rocks. It is<br />

fairly short, like the coastal park in<br />

the Piani d’Invrea, which goes until<br />

Varazze. Both of these have places<br />

where you can rent bicycles. What<br />

makes the latter route famous is its<br />

landscape of tiny beaches which<br />

are easily reached under the<br />

massive Mount Beigua.<br />

raggiungere Taggia da Arma.<br />

22 km, tra poco 24, con una peculiarità<br />

interessante: è trafficata<br />

anche in settimana dai pendolari<br />

salutisti - oppure amanti della<br />

bellezza - che vanno al lavoro in<br />

bici. E questo, in <strong>Liguria</strong>, era impensabile.<br />

Nolo bici e ristoro in<br />

tre punti della pista: San Lorenzo,<br />

Arma di Taggia e Sanremo.<br />

Paesaggio mutevole: gallerie,<br />

che hanno un fascino tutto loro,<br />

angoli selvaggi, centri storici<br />

e, a Sanremo, qualche parco<br />

di ville favolose, come quella di<br />

Nobel che, pentito per aver inventato<br />

la dinamite ma senza<br />

esagerare, aveva costruito un<br />

moletto sul retro, cioè sulla pista,<br />

per fare gli esperimenti con<br />

le torpedini.<br />

Pedalando nelle piste<br />

ciclabili di <strong>Liguria</strong>: tra<br />

Varazze e Arenzano, a<br />

Levanto e (qua sopra) in Val<br />

Fontanabuona, dove il 27<br />

maggio si corre sulla<br />

Ciclovia dell'ardesia (info su<br />

www.cicloviadellardesia.it)<br />

Cycling the cycle paths of<br />

<strong>Liguria</strong>: between Varazze<br />

and Arenzano, in Levanto,<br />

and (above) in Val<br />

Fontanabuona, where on<br />

May 27 they race on the<br />

Path of Slate, Ciclovia<br />

dell'ardesia (info on<br />

www.cicloviadellardesia.it<br />

But the pearl of <strong>Liguria</strong>n cycling<br />

paths is the one that runs from<br />

San Lorenzo al Mare to Sanremo.<br />

Readers of <strong>Blue</strong> are already<br />

familiar with it, but some new<br />

features have been added. It has<br />

almost reached Ospedaletti, and<br />

next year, work should begin to<br />

extend it eastwards to Finale.<br />

There is already a branch which<br />

heads into the hills, the first of<br />

many, and lets you reach Taggia<br />

from Arma. 22 km, soon to be 24,<br />

with another interesting aspect:<br />

even during the week you see<br />

physically-fit commuters – or<br />

lovers of beauty – who go to work<br />

by bicycle. And this, in <strong>Liguria</strong>, was<br />

once unthinkable. Cycle rentals<br />

and eating places are located in<br />

three points along the path: San<br />

Lorenzo, Arma di Taggia, and<br />

Sanremo. The landscape is<br />

constantly changing: tunnels,<br />

which have their own fascination,<br />

tracts of wilderness, old town<br />

centers and, in Sanremo, some<br />

parks of fabulous villas, like the<br />

one that belonged to Nobel who,<br />

feeling remorse for having<br />

invented dynamite, built a little<br />

pier at the back of his villa, on the<br />

cycling path, to carry out<br />

experiments with torpedoes.<br />

108

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