Stage 8
Spoleto > Prati di Tivo
Spoleto
Spoleto, the starting town for the eighth stage of the Giro, knows how to seduce its guests. The city can be seen from afar in all its imposing beauty, preceded by the Ponte delle Torri, the aqueduct built by the Romans and still today the sumptuous calling card of Spoleto. It is amusing to imagine that that priest on a bicycle you see passing by is actualli actor Terence Hill in the guise of Don Matteo, the television drama set right here. False alarm, but a diversion of a couple of hundred metres from the Duomo to the church of Sant'Eufemia, Don Matteo's church, seems compulsory at this point. Don Matteo's is the most telegenic bike in an area popular with cyclists, especially since the inauguration of the Spoleto-Norcia greenway, which runs for 51 kilometres on the route of a disused railway. On the occasion of the Giro's passage, Spoleto has prepared a packed programme of events. These include videomapping, a fashion show and pink night with DJ set on Saturday 11, while on Sunday morning it will be the Spoleto-Norcia cycle path that will take the spotlight with cycling and running events.
The Fucino Gorge
For the most part, the day's route winds its way through a wild and undeveloped environment, but Leonessa, a medieval jewel at the foot of Terminillo, and Sigillo, gateway to the evocative Fucino Gorge, are worth a stop. By now on Abruzzo soil, we skim over Lake Campotosto: a diversion to this large body of water will offer images and memories of great intensity.
Pietracarmela
Along the ascent to the finish line, we come to Pietracamela. Entering the narrow streets of the village among the stone houses, visitors encounters the Church of San Giovanni Battista, built in 1432, housing an enormous weight clock mechanism from the 1700s. Continuing along the narrow streets is the Church of San Rocco from 1530, dedicated to the Saint during the plague that was raging throughout the peninsula at that time, with a simple altar and a wooden statue of the Saint with a small dog. Also worth visiting are the rock paintings by master Guido Montauti, painted on the rock ridge above the town, and the small village of Intermesoli, a truly suggestive medieval treasure.
Those arriving in the area on the eve of the stage will have the opportunity to take part in the long night of festivities organised by the municipality with live music concerts. From Pietracamela, the finish line of Prati di Tivo can only be reached on foot. But the effort will be repaid by the spectacle of the Gran Sasso massif. Imposing and extremely close.
