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One day mountain bike excursions to Pianosa |
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One day mountain bike excursions to Pianosa |  | To discover Pianosa on a mountain bike | | | | Dates 2011 and prices: | on request | | The price includes: return transport to Pianosa on a motorboat, bicycle, environmental guide, swim at Cala Giovanna, insurance, assistance. |
Programme:
| | Distance: km 24,0
Interest: historical, geological, landscape.
Teme: 3 hours | We leave from Marina di Campo port in the morning and after 35 minutes disembark on Pianosa with the bicycles. Surrounded by an incredibly transparent sea rich in marine life. We start to pedal on the brightest Island of the Tuscan Archipelago. We visit the small harbour which, in its simplicity, is elegant and we also visit the abandoned town, with its buildings eroded by salt making it an even more striking and mysterious place.
After passing in front of the agronomist’s aristocratic villa we enter through the prison gate and visit the buildings and now abandoned farms of the ex agricultural settlement. In this area we see a lot of red legged partridges, pheasants and hares introduced onto the island over two centuries ago when it was a private hunting reserve of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany.
Pedalling along easy paths we can admire the fine dry stone walls which are typical of the Island as we head to the Marchese castle, an elegant building built at the northernmost point of the Island, it has had multiple uses during its romantic history. Below us is the beautiful Porto Romano bay, its crystal clear waters are exalted by the white crumbly rocks that delimit its border.
Returning south along the west coast we reach the Botte gulf and visit the ancient washhouses and the Roman aqueduct.
Our excursion continues along the beautiful Pianosa coast (where we can see many seabirds, for example Cory’s Shearwater) and then in the interior, surrounded by the intense perfumes of the Mediterranean vegetation.
As we continue we can see the guard towers built when there was a extra secure prison, then we return to the interior where Pianosa gives us the sensation of being able to reach both Elba and Corsica on a bike because as the land is flat and only slightly above sea level we can’t see the coast.
After pedalling between spectacular rocks that have been eroded by the sea (which tells us something about the crumbly geological structure of the Island) and through thick pine groves, passing in front of the famous “Agrippa section” (high security prison), we return towards the town. After visiting the remains of the Roman Villa of Agrippa we finish our trip on Cala Giovanna beach, the only place on Pianosa where bathing is permitted.
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Mountain bike excursions 
