Half day

Program example of half-day excursions with various degrees of difficulty:

Capoliveri – Ripalti – Capoliveri

Length: 19,6 Km

Travel time 2 hours

Difficulty level: easy

Interest: panoramic;mining,fauna

Setting off from Piazza del Cavatore square in Capoliveri, a quaint village at 166 meters above sea level, in a southerly direction along a wide and panoramic unsurfaced road overlooking the sea. Here we get to admire Elba’s complex morphology, Corsica’s silhouette, together with the south islands of the Tuscan archipelago.

After 2.5 Km we can also appreciate right below us the Gemini islands after a detour that allows us to reach also the Innamorata beach. Continuing on our journey, we then enter the heart of the mining area, lifts used by miners to descend underground and the now rusty skeletons of sea piers once necessary to load the excavated ores, are both evident traces of a mining era that took place on this side of ​Elba not too long ago.

We continue on a wide unpaved road until we reach Costa dei Gabbiani where we leave the main road and begin to climb inland on Punta Calamita. Here it is advisable to leave our bicycles and continue on foot up to the Ripalti cliff, home to the largest Corsican seagull colony of the Mediterranean, to watch closely overhanging cliffs above the sea where, in addition to seagulls, goats live in the wild.

Bright colours, the persistent twittering of birds, and the sea ‘voice’ in the background, all offer unforgettable sensations.

Back on our bikes, along the Costa dei Gabbiani tourist resort, we enter the path by the pine grove and head northward; after about 2 Km we get to a crossroads where there is a freshwater tank to be used by the Forestry Service in case of fire, here we take on our left a very scenic coastal path for 1.5 Km, then turn right into the pine grove again;  after a short rise we quickly descend on a completely shaded and flat path that leads us leisurely just above the village of Capoliveri, from here a very steep and unpaved panoramic road quickly brings us back to Capoliveri, starting point of our excursion.

Half day

Program example of half-day excursions with various degrees of difficulty:

S.Ilario – Marciana – M Perone – S.Ilario

Length: 24 Km

Travel time 3 hours

Difficulty level: medium

Interest: panoramic;historiacal, naturalistic

Starting from the beautiful square of Sant’ Ilario spring, we enter an easy panoramic path that leads us up to the 200 mt. of Colle Reciso, here we take a shaded unsurfaced road that runs next to the small Santa Rita church, and leads us to the road intersection with Buon Consiglio road ; after a short asphalt stretch, we enter a nice granite cobbled path surrounded by beautiful ferns that also features a spectacular bridge over Nivera ditch (never short of water even in the summer). The path ends by the entrance of the medieval Poggio village, at 330 m.a.s.l.  After leaving this little town, we stop at Napoleon spring (drinking water supply) to quench our thirst, then continue on a short stretch of paved road that leads us to Marciana at 350 m.a.s.l. Once left its residential area and an amazing fortress dated 1200 AD, we take an easy path that crosses the Valley of Pedalta and its many chestnut trees, then through a short but complex downhill stretch we reach Grotta del Santo, a cave where San Cerbone spent his last living days.

In 1421AD a hermitage was built in the vicinity of the cave, nowadays,  still in pretty good condition thanks to a recent restorations. After leaving San Cerbone, an interesting location even botanically speaking, a quick descent underneath chestnut trees first, then pines, takes us back to Poggio, where we take a paved road towards Mount Perone. Once arrived near the summit (600 m.a.s.l), we take a nice downhill path, pretty technical and with quite few humps, which leads us back to the picturesque village of Saint’ Ilario while overlooking almost the whole island as well as the islands of Pianosa, Montecristo, and Giglio on clearer days.

Half-day

Program example of half-day excursions with various degrees of difficulty

Marina di Campo – Monte di San Martino – Monte Orello – Capo Fonza – Marina di Campo

Length:37 Km

Travel time 3 hours

Difficulty level: hard

Interest:, naturalistic, photographic

Departing from Marina di Campo, an asphalt road takes us to the Valley of Literno, where an almost entirely shaded unsurfaced road with a good surface leads us to Bivio delle Picchiaie.

With a short but steep climb we get to a cyclists’ “paradise”: Mount Orello (370 m.a.s.l.). As, in this area just off the main road, many are the trails suitable for all sorts of mountain bike disciplines, from single treks to downhill.

A very scenic descent facing south on Capo Stella and the Gulf of Lacona brings us back to sea level while also passing near some military bunkers dating back to the last war conflict.

After a short flat stretch by Lacona, it is time for our last ascent of the day, that will lead us up to Mount Fonza at 320 m.a.s.l. Before that however, a stop by Laconella beach is highly recommended, a beautiful sandy cove topped by green serpentine rocks typical of this side of coastline.

Our climb ends opposite a  “caprile”, a shelter built with limestone rock by shepherds who used to take their flocks to these areas. A steep but fairly easy descent that offers deeply evocative panoramic views thanks to the hues of the sea in the background against scrubland colours, and leads us all the way above the Gulf of Fonza from which, after a short climb, we take a final downhill stretch till Segagnana ,then finally  take a paved road to Marina di Campo.

Full day

Program example of full-day excursions with various degrees of difficulty

Marina di Campo – M.Perone – S.Piero – Marina di Campo – M.Orello – Lacona – M.Tambone – Marina di Campo

Length:57,7 Km

Travel time 6 hours

Difficulty level: hard

Interest:, naturalistic, panoramic

Setting off from Marina di Campo, we take the La Foce bike lane up to a trail that leading to La Pila. Here we start to climb along a panoramic dirt road in the direction of Le Solane, a good soil road that cuts halfway up the hill; surrounded by the Mediterranean scrub we get in the vicinity of Sant’ Ilario town (200 m above sea level) where we take a steep uphill trail on our right that leads us up to the 630 meters of Mount Perone, once reached its summit, we start to descend towards Marina di Campo through a paved road which takes us to Castagnone natural spring. A trail steep and technical at first, after a few hundred meters turns into a fast descent underneath a beautiful forest of holm oaks and pines, with its many humps bound to amuse all descent enthusiasts.

Once reached Piane al canale, an ‘airy’ plateau at 500 meters a.s.l., we access a spectacular firebreak descending towards the Gulf of Marina di Campo, while providing an inestimable feeling of diving right into the sea. At the end of the fire line, we enter into a wonderful single trek up to San Piero.

The narrow trail ends in the village of San Piero.

After cycling through it, a steep and technical path leads us back to Marina di Campo. From there, we keep going straight along easy pathways taking us to the entrance of the Literno Valley, where we start to ascend onto a shaded dirt road towards the Colle Reciso quarries (Km 34, mt 200 above sea level).  After reaching the main road, we turn left in the direction of Portoferraio then immediately right, proceeding off-track to Mount Orello, below us on our right, a wonderful view over Portoferraio and its Medicean fortifications. Got to Km 37 of our tour, we take Mount Orello forest trail characterized by a soft and reddish in colour soil. Mount Orello feels like a real maze of roads and trails, we continue on its main trail and cross over its peak at 350 m.a.s.l., at Km 39 of our tour. The descent towards Lacona is wide and fast, offering all cyclists a wonderful view on both Gulfs of Lacona and Stella; by Km 42 we are back onto the main paved road again towards Lacona for about three kilometers, then take a diversion on our left in the direction of Laconella, which will take us up to the 345 meters of Mount Tambone, our last effort for today. The road climbing up towards Mount Tambone alternates sharpers rises to apparently flat grounds, and by ignoring any other forks, you can cross over it at Km 52.3 (302 meters above sea level). We then start our descend along a steep but fairly easy path that leads us right above the Gulf of Fonza ,where a short climb and a final downhill stretch take us back to loc. Segagnana. Here we take the one kilometer long trail found on our right hand side Km 56), that lead us onto Marina di Campo’s cycle lane, Km 57.7 of our excursion.

Full day

Program example of full-day excursions with various degrees of difficulty

Marina di Campo – M.te Tambone – Colle Reciso – Campo ai Peri – M.te Castello – Le Panche del Volterraio – Nisportino – Le Picchiaie – Buca di Bomba – Literno – Marina di Campo

Length:45 Km

Travel time 5 hours

Difficulty level: medium

Interest:, naturalistic, historical, panoramic

We set off from Marina di Campo in the direction of Lacona. After about 1.5 km on a paved road we reach La Foce where we enter an easy but steep dirt road that leads us to Mount Tambone’s peak. Here we take a steep downhill path able to offer strong emotions to single trek enthusiasts. Once on the main road leading to Lacona, we will cycle along an old military road that leads us to Campo ai Peri (17 km). Hence, an unsurfaced road, that after about 3 Km turns into a beautiful path deep in scrubland at times, will take us up to the 576 meters of Cima del Monte, thereupon we start a pleasant descent all the way to Volterraio main road. We cycle then on this asphalt road for about 1 Km, once at its culmination we dive steeply into a “single track” trail that takes us to Nisporto, where an easy unpaved road overlooking the Gulf of Portoferraio leads us up to Nisportino. After leaving the dirt road we keep going on an asphalt stretch with little traffic, that takes us up to Le Picchiaie where we then enter on a dirt road in the direction of Marina di Campo. This never too challenging road rises steadily up to Buca di Bomba where a spectacular downhill narrow path deep among holm oaks, leads back to Literno. From here a pretty flat path takes us back to our starting point, Marina di Campo, after about a 45 Km tour.