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Riding the main roads departing from Rome, on my Sunday rides towards the hills and the volcanic lakes (Albano and Nemi) in the Castelli Romani Regional Park, takes forever: You pedal staring at your stem, between close-passing cars and rubbish or dead once-were-animals, asking yourself why the hell you’re doing this. Most of those main roads run through soulless outskirts and wastelands. A necessary toll, sort of, you have to pay to reach better places and landscapes, or otherwise to go back home after your bicycle ride.

What if I found an alternative?If you get bored, you will need to get un-bored — I told myself. I tried, therefore, to look at my own city with different eyes, to find out some rough stuff riding possibilities, studying the city map for a viable alternative to the boredom of big roads. A route was traced and tested, since then, making do with every chance I was offered to avoid busy roads and tarmac. I managed finding out something quite unexpected, and interesting: I put together a 20 kilometers route that connects spectacular archeological sites, ancient roads, dirt paths, less traveled backroads, country dirt tracks, disused cycle paths and public gardens. Surfaces are varied, including ancient Roman cobblestones, pavé, dirt and some gravel. Tarmac has been more or less left behind, save for short sections that are needed to link the route’s segments. An epic or adventurous ride, it is not: Nevertheless, this route makes for an awesome and inspiring glide path for a bike tourist, to approach the very centre of the city (the Capitol) coming from Ciampino Airport (at the southern limits of Rome), through picturesque sceneries, ancient ruins and nature, avoiding vehicular traffic. You can ride it every season and with every kind of bicycle, loaded or not, with no issues. Tracing the route, I tried to stick as much as I could (sometimes radically, just for the fun of it) to the “no tarmac roads principle”, thus including some unessential diversions and sections, such as a short stretch of sidewalk along the Tiber (which is paved with large marble stones) or even a short gravel path through the flowerbeds of the Forum Boarium. Along the route one finds plenty of water points. Enter the Rome Roughstuff Route

.At the southern limits of Rome, from the Roma Ciampino Airport you should follow Via di Fioranello until it gets to Via Appia Antica: this intersection is the starting point of the route. Ride north along the wonderful Via Appia, one of the most ancient and important Roman roads. You’ll ride mostly over the sampietrini (the traditional pavé of Rome) and sections paved with the original Roman stones. Riding on the latter may be sometimes a little harsh: They are lined, though, with easy singletracks on both sides. The scenery is enthusing: On both sides of the road you will enjoy stone pines, Roman tombs and monuments, fields and pastures. What’s not to like? Follow the straight-going track until you reach, after about 8 kilometers, a coffee shop. Turn right and reach the traffic lights: you’ll see the steep southern entrance of Parco della Caffarella, a piece of countryside converted into urban park in the late Nineties. Have an erratic and relaxed ride through the park’s dirt roads, heading North-East and crossing the Almone river to gain the park exit into Via Appia Antica, where you’ll find the church of Domine Quo Vadis and the entrance to the San Callisto Catacombs (worth a visit), a restaurant and a coffee shop. Go through the restaurant’s parking lot and ride the dirt track in front of you, then keep the right and cross the hill until you meet again the Almone river (just before it disappears underground) and go back to Via Appia Antica, which you’ll follow for 200 meters to north. Turn left then and take the cobbled Via della Travicella to its end. You’ll now have to slide easily your bike under a barrier to reach the main road.

Follow that road towards south, riding its narrow sidewalk, until the pedestrian crossing and then take the disused cycle path northbound, coasting Via Cristoforo Colombo (a wide, busy lane that connects the city to the seaside). Just before the gates through the Roman Walls, cross the road to reach the upper side of the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla, an astonishing archaeological site, following Viale Baccelli on its sidewalk (that soon switches to a dirt track). Keeping the right you will reach the public gardens. Ride them up and down on both sides of the road and reach the Circus Maximus: You will enjoy riding the entire length of this ancient chariot-racing stadium, over grass and gravel, to reach the Bocca della Verità (the Mouth of Truth), the famous marble mask, known for its appearance in the 1953 film Roman Holiday. Don’t get too touristy here, though: Skip the crowds and focus on the flowerbeds of the Forum Boarium: go on gravel now between the flowerbeds, leaving the Temple of Hercules Victor on your left, towards the right side (which is the left one, from your perspective) of the squared Temple of Portunus. Perform a short microadventurous hike-a-bike through the bushes, and you’ll show up to the Lungotevere, the main road that follows both sides of the Tiber. I usually like, at this point, to go down the stairs to ride a short stretch of the riverfront, heading upriver and enjoying a magnificent view of the Tiber Island (having a lunch in one of the island’s restaurants would definitely be a good idea), and climbing up the next stairs (under Fabricius Bridge). Enter the Jewish Quarter (known as the Roman Ghetto): A gentle switchback ramp before the Porticus Octaviae will take you down through the remains of the portico (which also served as a fish market since Middle Ages up to the 19th century) to the Theater of Marcellus, the end of our itinerary, next to the Capitol hill. The entire route takes less than an hour to be ridden at a moderate pace (which I usually do), but it’s worth a slower pace for you to enjoy the archaeological sites and to have some coffee stops, or maybe a lunch, along its course.You may look for the gpx file of the Rome Roughstuff Route in the downloads section.

Roberto Politi(Rome,Italy)

Instagram: @route_defoe