Accessible Routes: Ciclovia del Santerno

This 20-kilometre bicycle route allows the discovery of a pleasant, simple and completely accessible stretch of the Santerno Cycle Route, an itinerary of high environmental and scenic value through river environments with riparian forests, water works of historical interest such as the Canali dei Mulini, geological formations such as the Vena del Gesso and valuable agricultural areas with specialised orchards.

The route begins in Imola, from a convenient car park located near the Rocca Sforzesca and on some stretches of cycle track in the roadway leading to the beautiful setting of Piazza Matteotti; leaving the city centre, first in the restricted traffic zone, then on smooth cycle paths in designated lanes, we cross the Osservanza complex, the site of a former asylum that came to life in 1890 as a provincial psychiatric hospital. It consisted of large pavilions for the hospitalisation of patients and for the general services of kitchen, laundry, workshop as well as outpatient clinics and staff quarters, an area now undergoing one of the city’s most important redevelopment projects.

We will soon start cycling on the Santerno cycle route along the Canale dei Molini, a waterworks system flowing almost parallel to the river from Codrignano as far as Imola, where it separates into two branches encircling the city, then rejoining downstream and continuing alongside Via Selice. The river eventually crosses Massa Lombarda, San Patrizio, Conselice and Lavezzola.

The cycle route travels through the city and its beautiful green areas on a special track (watch out for traffic intersections) and mostly on asphalt; some light dirt road stretches (on a dedicated track) will soon alternate with some stretches of very low-traffic roads.

The Canale dei Molini always runs close to the cycle track and crosses fields planted with orchards, cereals, and horticultural crops, in the classic agrarian landscape of the Romagna valley floor; the route suggested here ends at the Sluice of Codrignano, mentioned for the first time in a deed of 1258. In the Middle Ages the river water was conveyed into the artificial canal by means of stone embankments. The first real sluice, built in 1852, was short-lived, as it was swept away by a flood seven years later. A more solid structure was added in 1860, but it collapsed after an exceptional flood of the Santerno in 1951. The current sluice dates back to 1954.

The return route to Imola is the same as the outward journey.

Find out more on Outdoor365 website.