Route 1 – Bratica Valley
Route: Monchio AD-Poggio del Tesoro-Casarola-Riana-Monte Navert-Pianadetto-Monchio AD.
- Departure: Central Square (Piazza Caduti di tutte le Guerre) (Monchio delle Corti)
- Arrival: Monchio delle Corti
- Difficulty: MC+/BC
- Length: 26.3 km
- Height difference: 1140 m
- Municipalities affected: Monchio delle Corti
- Surface type: Asphalt: 30 percent, dirt roads: 51 percent, trail: 19 percent
- Presence of water: Countries
- Support points: Villages, Pian del Monte (bivouac)
Itinerary to discover the upper Bratica Valley.
The route requires excellent training to tackle the long climb to Mt. Navert and good riding skills to tackle the subsequent descent.
A few minutes of pushing bikes to reach the summit meadows of Navert rewarded by a 360-degree view that sweeps over the entire Apennine ridge.
From the starting point at the town’s central square, climb up along the Strada dei Cento Laghi in the direction of the hamlet of Trecoste.
As soon as you get among the houses at the end of the steep asphalt climb, take the first right on a nice cobblestone road and then between the dry stone walls among the fields.
When you reach Prato, continue left on provincial road 75 until you reach Poggio del Tesoro (m. 1146) where you turn left onto a cart track.
Continue among cultivated fields passing a first fork and at the second turn right sharply downhill to the village of Casarola where you can stop to visit the beautiful village and the house of the poet Attilio Bertolucci.
Continue on the provincial road, crossing the Bratica stream and shortly reaching Riana from where the long climb to the Navert begins.
The dirt road is wide and carriageable and presents no technical difficulties, but the slope is almost everywhere very steep and it is advisable to tackle it in the less hot hours of the day.
When you reach Pian del Monte (m. 1575) your labors are momentarily over as you continue along the Navert ridge through twisted beech forests and clearings where horses graze.
A short descent (boulders) then leads to Pian del Freddo (m. 1529) from which you need to push the bike for a few minutes until you reach the summit meadows that soon lead to the Navert summit, marked by a wooden cross.
After enjoying the wide panorama from the summit, a first section of descent begins that is rather treacherous due to the significant erosion of the path (be careful not to touch with the pedals).
Once below the summit the trail becomes pleasant and continues on a ridge that divides the Cedra valley on the right from the Bratica valley on the left.
When you reach a junction at an altitude of 1275 m.
you turn right and shortly after again right continuing to descend the Cedra valley side.
The descent continues with several hairpin bends that shortly lead to the village of Pianadetto.
Leaving the village you leave the main road to turn left at the cemetery, cross the Cedrano stream continuing through the meadows to Trecoste from which you follow the road back to Monchio re-entering the village from the church and the central Via Brigata Julia.