Apennine Mountain Traverse

The Apennine Mountain Traverse is a weekend-long bikepacking route that winds through the vast forests of the northern Apennines along the quiet trails of Italy’s mountain heritage. From barren, desolate ridges to ancient forest paths, this mountain bike route offers a variety of landscapes.

You can also find it on the global platform Bikepacking.com

It starts in the centre of Bologna, in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, and ends in Forlì, just a few kilometres from the coast. The route follows the Apennine ridge of the Casoni di Romagna wind farm through a stunning landscape of barren ridges, pastures and dirt tracks leading to Pietramala, a stone’s throw from the ancient Raticosa Pass.

The steep climbs will take you into the wooded heart of the route, passing by the Abbey of Moscheta, one of the most important places of worship in the local mountains, founded in 1034. From there, you’ll follow forest tracks that wind through vast beech forests and offer thrilling, fast descents.

Several sections of the route overlap with the G.E.A. (Grande Escursione Appenninica), the historic long-distance trail established in the early 1980s. The route crosses it again in the small village of Castagno di Andrea, home to the official Punto Tappa mountain refuge, and subsequently along the Monte Falco forest road. These mountains also bear the traces of the Gothic Line, the German defensive line which, during the Second World War, divided Italy in two before being breached by the Allied forces.

At San Benedetto in Alpe, the route enters the Casentino Forests National Park, a vast protected area renowned for its centuries-old and extraordinarily well-preserved woodlands, which are among the oldest in Europe. Quiet and almost entirely covered in woodland, the park is characterised by imposing beech and chestnut groves and green hills stretching towards the horizon.

In the final section, the route gradually moves away from the high mountains, descending through the beautiful hills around Castrocaro Terme before reaching Forlì. Just before the finish, the trail crosses the spectacular Rio Cozzi canyon via a thrilling and scenic singletrack that winds gently downhill between imposing white rock faces and natural caves.