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Bicycle trip with kids on the bike path along the river Po, from Monviso to the sea

Photos, drawings, elaborations and text by Daniela Zappa and Marco Cerisola, 2012

Translated by Matteo Cerisola and Daniela Zappa

[Photos, drawings, elaborations and texts of this site are protected by copyright: see conditions on the Home page.]

(See the photos in the Italian version. Click on the photos, they get bigger)

Returning from our cycling holiday along the Danube (2008), we wrote “if only we could ride likewise in Italy!” Following the two excellent guides published by Ediciclo in collaboration with FIAB, we wanted to take on this challenge and rode the whole path of the Po, the longest Italian river, from its source on Monviso to its mouth into the Adriatic Sea, through Piemonte, Lombardia and Emilia Romagna! A few months before leaving (with all nights already booked), we found out that the Department of Architecture and Planning at the Politecnico in Milan had been studying how to make our path entirely cyclable!

Photo 1 - Map of the area of our path, from the source to the mouth

The joy and the satisfaction of being able to pedal on a so amazing track fascinated us. THAT A SIGHT! The charm of the landscapes is outstanding: Italy is really the most beautiful country in the world! And savouring it slowly by bike is an indescribable feeling. We passed through sublime art cities, beautiful towns, lands rich in history, dreamy mountains, rolling hills, fairytale woods, meadows, placid rice paddies, corn, wheat and sunflowers fields, followed by the flight of raptors, storks, herons, jays, ducks and cormorants, along with hares, squirrels, pheasants and peeking out peacocks. Endless and amazing indelible memories [see photos on pages - the present one, Po2 and Po3] have impressed in our eyes, while our light wheels caressed the air. How could we ever forget the Cozie Alps, the streams, Sanfront, Saluzzo, Racconigi, the "dead Po", Torino with its buildings and the superb Egyptian Museum, Chivasso, Crescentino, the castles of Monferrato, Casale, the charming Lomellina, the “ghiareti”(natural deposits of gravel), le “lanche” (ponds formed in the meanders of rivers) and the “sabbioni” (wide deposits of sand), the islands, Pavia, Belgioioso, Calendasco, Sant'Imento, Piacenza and its squares, Cremona and its towers, Motta Baluffi aquarium (which was closed and opened as an exception for us!), Casalmaggiore, Sabbioneta, Commessaggio, the boat bridges, Mantova, the Fire brigade Museum, Ostiglia, Revere, Sermide and its delicious melons, the stronghold of Stellata, Ferrara, Serravalle, Mesola, the delta, the lagoon, Goro and Gorino?

But most of all we certainly appreciated the kindness of the people we met, who gave us their warm welcome, encouraged us, provided us fresh water and did not hesitate to lead us by bike to the right way (by Bertolla TO, to Revere MN, at Ferrara and somewhere else) whenever we had taken the wrong road. We are very grateful to all those "angels" we met along the great river and owe an especial thank to the "Tana di Roncarolo", PC, for the wonderful welcome (see photo 26).

Photo 2 - The Po springs from the majestic Monviso (here in winter).

We have been blessed by good weather: it only rained when we went down from Pian del Re and on our arrival in Torino. We always had a warm sun, and sometimes even a pleasant breeze (never mind if it seemed to blow against us).

It was an unforgettable cycling holiday of a family with two children (Anna 9 years old and Luca of almost 6), who could not wait to saddle up and who are now proud of this enterprise of theirs. Indeed it is unusual to see Italians travelling on two wheels for 3 weeks, but admiring two children performing such a travel is unfortunately a rare and unique vision.

The kids, who are already familiar with this kind of adventures (after the Danube in 2008 and the Drava in 2010), were stricter than their parents Daniela and Marco in judging the various aspects of the stages. We have given very good "marks" to countries and cities, but the natural environments have gained the greatest appreciation, especially (in order) the country of Vercelli district, of Monferrato and Lomellina, but also the landscapes of Mantova, Ferrara and the Cuneo districts.

It's funny the comparison with the long odyssey of a sailing ship: after weeks offshore, the lookout makes out a beach in the distance and eagerly announces "Land, land!" Near to the end of our pilgrimage we saw the part of the sky over the horizon slowly expanding... a sign that the earth was gradually diminishing. And when the vegetation in the background became thinner and thinner, in that very moment a blue stripe under the sky appeared: "Sea, sea!"

One amusing episode merits a nod among the others: there was a misunderstanding regarding the italian word "vite" (=grapevine): Daniela (most interested in the cultural aspect of cycling) was showing a vineyard, and Marco (avid cyclist) believed that she was talking of nuts and bolts!

At the source of the Po (Pian del re, quote 2020), the climber Marco arrived by bike, of course: the climb is challenging but not terrible (according to the "Cerisola index" measuring the difficulty of an ascent, it takes 3.165 points and so it is a 3^rd category [on 10 levels]).

Photo 3 - Here the Po springs (but among the clouds we did not find the exact source ...).

Obviously it was not only poetry! Our most significant critics have focused on ROADS, PATHS and TRACKS. Of course we did not hope to find paradisiac roads (they do not even exist in Austria, least of all in Switzerland) and we knew what was expecting us. Therefore we must clearly say that FOR THE TIME BEING the itinerary unfortunately DOES NOT often have the characteristics of SECURITY required and thus we recommend to families with children ONLY SOME TRAITS, warning that even the best tracks are discontinuous (see photos on pages: the present one, in Po2 and Po3). Taking a strip of asphalt reserved for bikes gives a security that can be misleading if it suddenly flows into a busy street, as it happens too often! We ventured with the children on the streets with the precautions of which we will say later on and preparing them properly with road education and the habit to promiscuous traffic. In the first half we had to live with a little traffic and too few bike paths (a good exception is the crossing of Torino). Then the protected paths increased (especially from San Zenone al Po, PV, onwards and especially in the province of Ferrara), but also mosquitoes (see some remedies, although we found very few). In Emilia Romagna there are dedicated routes for cyclists that moved deeply/touch our heart, but there are still considerable margins of improvement. In our humble opinion there are too many dirt roads along the whole path Po, and they often have a rough or gravelly bottom, possible only by a MTB and a specific training and get impracticable when it rains. As Marco’s bike was a racer (although with reinforced tires and wheels) he had to cover a few tens of kilometres on foot! However, we had only two punctures but in the countries - in Belgioioso and in Gorino - and not on the trails! And suffered only minor mechanical problems we solved easily. We had 7 falls: 4 due to the mud or the sand after Chivasso TO, 3 times for inexperience/malpractice. In some areas of the route appropriate signs are available; generally there are not so therefore we daily had mistakes and unexpected additional km! For those who wish to emulate us, we highly recommend the two books of the Ediciclo guide, really valuable in spite of few mistakes as all first editions normally have. The bold and indispensable bridge in Torre d'Oglio was broken, but without any previous warning at the fork! Even on the website of the Province of Mantova this info was missing: it only signaled the concluded restoration works to that bridge carried out between 2008 and 2010. Since the provincial road 57 had become a blind alley, Marco had to do 17 km in addition going back and venturing on the narrow state road 420 to reach Mantova with the velocipede. In some places the separate collection of rubbish disappointed us a little: the levels of South Tyrol, where in 2010 we even found recycle bins on trains (!), is still far and the collection "door to door" must also take account of non-residents (lacking baskets that allow visitors to contribute to recycling). The garbage unfortunately abounds on the enchanting coastline of Gorino because of the sea storms, but perhaps not only. Finally, compared to Austria, the humid heat could be more annoying.

Despite these problems, we were thrilled at the end of our holiday.

Photo 4 - Ready, with the yellow flag on the arm (to indicate to vehicles the children on the street) sewed by grandmother Teresa on an idea by Marco.

Click on the link below to view our location and cultural visits.

Photo 5 - Toward Saluzzo (CN), the bike path ends and we continue on the road.

Some provinces crossed have been deeply wounded by the recent earthquake. It produced serious damages in areas situated a little to the south of our path. The only signs we have seen along our route were the museums closed for checks and some displaced people. As the aftershocks persisted, the irrational fear should have kept us away from those places. On the contrary we confirmed each stage, supported by the lucid observation that we were passing out of the belt most affected by the earthquake and especially sustained by the strong desire of solidarity with those people. Damaging the tourism of an economy already exhausted would really be cowardice.

During our journey we were pleasantly surprised by the exquisite courtesy of hoteliers and quality of OVERNIGHTS, chosen among the cheapest ones, which have however proved very comfortable. The hostel of Piacenza deserves an applause, unbeatable as to the relationship quality-price and the employment ethic. Having decided to savor quietly our "vacation - adventure along the Po" (that is: a few kms per day for children and several hours per day dedicated to culture and games for children, with the consequent necessity to have more days available and therefore a greater number of nights), we decided (as the Danube 2008 and the Drava 2010) for spartan ACCOMMODATIONS. At the end, therefore, the total cost was however very contained (approximately 58% less than the price of a vacation, quite similar, organized by a specializied tour operator). We were able to spend even less than in Austria, especially for overnights (thanks to our sagacity, the fall in prices, or the higher competitiveness of the hospitality facilities?). We cut down the costs of meals buying food in shops and excellent local fruit. The delicious dinners consumed in the right places were excellent and at a very reasonable price. The breakfasts, almost always included in the price of overnights, have been everywhere balanced, tasty and abundant (except the last, but by then we had reached the destination). We were always given the receipts and tax receipts without demanding them. We used the electronic money much more than in Austria (sign of the times, or signal that the underground economy and tax evasion are widely distributed also abroad).

Photo 6 - Climbing (up) to the charming center of Saluzzo (CN).

Moreover we cut costs in the two previous years (no extra purchases, shrewd grocery shopping, extremely rare pizzas eaten out, very few trips, no purchases of clothes and children have massively benefited from games and clothes from other older children).

When we organized the trips along the Danube (2008) and along the Drava River (2010), although we called the hotels (capillary present and with a wide range) several months beforehand, many of them were already fully booked and we struggled to find vacancies in other accommodations. Instead we had to call 31 structures in our region Padana to book 16 nights and bitterly discovered that 6 of them had closed down a few months before as a result of the crisis, while other 5 were hard to find because their info on the web or guides (although very recent) were not updated and only 4 inns were no longer available because fully booked.

We must say that, almost 11 years after the inauguration of Ciclovia "Right Po", the accommodation facilities are still extremely scarce (almost null in some areas)

While on the wonderful holidays in the saddle along the Danube (2008) and along the Drava River (2010) we were 5, this time only 4 of the Cerisola family took part: Matteo was busy with his scientific maturity and the selection test for the University. The first hurdle was won with an excellent vote (98 out of 100), thanks to a valuable essay on the "Cerisola index" that measures the difficulty of the ascents climbed in the saddle of a bicycle.

Photo 7 - At Racconigi (CN) the storks nesting on the top of the buildings.

Since the nineteen-year-old Matteo and his friend Daniele were under examination, we had to come up with another solution for the transport of our luggage from one accommodation to another. Along the Danube (2008) and along the Drava River (2010) Daniela and Matteo pulled the little Anna and Luca, while Daniele and Marco pulled the luggage. Along the Po Daniela, Anna and Luca cycled (with Marco) only in the most quiet traits and for not too long distances (up to 28.6 km per day). The rest of the stage (i.e. another twenty km) they travelled by car on which we had uploaded their 3 bikes and luggage (however reduced to a minimum). So only Marco covered entirely by bike the path described here, also adding the number of kilometers needed to go back and to recover our car. This cut to the distances covered by our young cyclists allowed them to not get too tired, to have more free time to play (slides and swings are quite available in every town) and - above all - to choose very carefully the less dangerous or more enjoyable traits in which make them cycle with us. Some more precautions: mom Daniela was head of the line and dad Mark in the queue with a yellow flag waving from the left forearm (prepared by grandma Teresa on an idea by Marco; see photo 4), we also made extensive use of reflective bands.

There are 2 great differences between the bike lane along our river Po and the Austrian bike paths: the different economic policies and the different strategic choices in transportation pursued since the second postwar period to date. While many countries have understood for decades that bikes are an excellent means of transport and that cycle tourism creates revenue opportunities for the territory, Italy persists in favouring motorized transport and consumerist holidays, damaging the environment, the collective health and creating an economy at the mercy of the fluctuations of the moment.

It should be given more importance to the immense historical and cultural heritage of Italy through the tourism for a mutual benefit. Other countries know better than we how to sell their risources. If thousands of tourists go up to the 62nd parallel north only to see the cat Stubbs that for 15 years has been honorary mayor of Talkeetna, in Alaska, is it possible that in Italy nature and works of art fall to ruin for lack of maintenance and money?

And speaking of the unfortunate closure of hotels because of the crisis (which penalizes both us as cycling tourists and the local economy), it is surprising the heterogeneous purposes pursued by the Italian government of "professors": they should have healed the public balance supporting the expansion of the economic activities in order to produce the growth of the taxable income and consequently the internal revenue; on the contrary it was primarily chosen to increase the tax rates as well as to introduce new taxes, which causes the decrease of the income and the consequent and obvious reduction of the tax revenue and the worsening of the deficit (see also the appeal of 5 Nobel prizes for economics).

Photo 8 - Bike path to cross Torino along the left bank of the Po

Click to see more photos of the trip: from Torino to Gussola (CR) and from Casalmaggiore (CR) to the sea

Text, calculations, drawings and photos of Daniela Zappa and Marco Cerisola, 2012 - Translated by Matteo Cerisola and Daniela Zappa