The Route
The following map, created with the online and mobile application Komoot, provides an overview of the L’Impedalabile route. Komoot also displays the elevation of the route by highlighting the hardest pieces with an increasingly darker green to red profile color.
Download the route GPX file for the Cycle Computer from STRAVA Routes
Download the route TCX file for the Cycle Computer from STRAVA Routes
Let’s move on to describe the path in detail to get an idea of what awaits the hero who decides to face this grueling challenge.
The first 8 km are the easiest and serve as a warm-up for what will come next.
Starts with the famous descent of Bazzano, 4 km of a technical downhill that require experience to be tackled at best. The hairpin bends of Bazzano end in the industrial area of Isolanda, where you take the SP17 towards Traversetolo. This 4.5 km stretch of road is slightly downhill and allows you to pedal very easily until you reach the first unpedalable climb, Stombellini, which you take by turning right on the road of the same name just before the bend at the intersection with the SP98 road that leads to The Gabbiola and continuing to Mulazzano, Faviano and so on.
#1 Stombellini it is one of the 4 climbs that lead to Guardasone, it is relatively short, only 600 meters, but the average gradient is around 14% with peaks at 18% especially in the Gavazzo area (the houses just above Stombellini).
After a few hundred meters of another climb, but much lighter and with couple of flat small sections in between it, you arrive in the Guardasone area and then you quickly descend to Vignale via the Baietta street. You will pass close to the church of San Lorenzo di Guardasone, then when down to Vignale, you will continue to the intersection with the Pedemontana road and from here turn right towards San Polo D’Enza.
Just before the bridge over the Enza, right in the middle of the curve that precedes it, there is the beginning of the road that leads to the second impossible climb, #2 Ariana, a real “wall” with an average gradient of 15% and a maximum of 23% that cuts the legs of even the most trained cyclist.
The road, which passes through the group of houses called Ariana, climbs with two three hairpin bends towards the same point from which you passed a few minutes earlier, Guardasone, from whose top you will descend via another road, called Strada Nuova street, which leads directly to the village of Traversetolo.
At the end of the descent from Guardasone via Strada Nuova street you reach a large open space overlooking the Pedemontana road, at this point you must turn right and take the direction way to San Polo d’Enza. As soon as you reach the roundabout which is 100 meters away, you must follow the signs for Parma and then take the second exit.
At this point, follow the road, continuing straight on towards Langhirano, go straight on towards the Langhirano first roundabout, do the same also at the second roundabout and faces the ramp that leads to Bannone. At the roundabout that connects via Sette Fratelli Cervi, the Pedemontana raod and Monzato street, take the third exit and continue for a few meters until the intersection with Alcide De Gasperi street. At this point you need to continue cycling on to De Gasperi steet arriving up to Case Rotte street, turning right and you will be quickly pushed you out of the town.
From Case Rotte street, which later becomes Strada delle Bazzelline street, turn right onto Via del Finale street until you reach the intersection with Carrozzera street. Continue along Carrozzera street up to Via dei Boschi street, from which you descend towards Santa Maria del Piano.
Once in Santa Maria, through Fusana street you reach the climb #3 Santa Maria, a real shot of 400 meters completely straight, but with an average gradient of 16-17% and a maximum over 21%.
After the Santa Maria wall, turn right just after the houses taking via del Masdone street, which continues along the coast for about 1 km and which also offers a piece of gravel road before joining via della Rondella street.
Turning right on via della Rondella you go back towards Lesignano, you arrive at the roundabout where there are Gelateria, Bar and Pharmacy, you have to go straight and go down to the valley to take the road that leads to Mulazzano Ponte and Langhirano.
Continuing along via Motoclub Parma you will reach Mulazzano Ponte, at the intersection you must turn left and go up towards Mulazzano, however a few hundred meters later you must turn right and take via Fienile street.
Via Fienile with a slight slope leads to the group of houses of Fienile which are grouped right on via Monte Pico street, at the beginning of one of the most difficult walls, #4 Fienile.
The Fienile wall is devastating, it is just over 1km and a half long and the average slope is not inhumane only due to the fact that in the middle there is even a small stretch of descent.
Fienile forces you to pedal for more than 1km with an average gradient of over 13% with a maximum of 28%, and there are those who swear to have seen even more than 28% on their cycle computer, on a very narrow road, broken and full of holes, very dirty and often slimy due to a dense vegetation in correspondence with a couple of sections (moreover the hardest).
Fienile, however, has something wonderful, it is the pride and the feeling of victory that you feel when you reach the end is something unforgettable, just as the same sensations are given by the climb that will be faced less than 3km later, #5 La Pila.
The ascent of La Pila (whose official name would be Pilla di Faviano) is taken as soon as the descent from Faviano towards the Val Termina road ends, turning left and continuing along the road that leads to the Neviano.
La Pila is probably the most difficult climb to overcome for various reasons, the first because it arrives very shortly after having climbed the Fienile wall and the second reason is the average slope of the central kilometer which exceeds 16% average slope and having peaks above 33%.
At the end of the ascent of La Pila you will find yourself behind the Neviano sports center and at this point you will have to go down to the center of the village passing in front of the Police Station, then continuing passing in front of the Municipality and finally joining the SP41, then you will have to continue in direction of the Scurano town by turning right at the intersection.
The road then continues passing through the Romazza and upon reaching the crossroads with the Torrione, you must continue turning left, throwing yourself down from the Torrioncino descent to quickly reach the SP17 and turn right towards Sella di Lodrignano.
At km 14 of the SP17 you must turn right towards Villanova – Lupazzano and face the sixth wall, that is #06 Villanova.
Villanova is the small group of houses right in the middle of the climb that leads to small village of Lupazzano, and it is in correspondence with the ramp that from these latter rises towards the second part of the slope that the maximum slope of 21% is recorded.
Fortunately Villanova as well as some other climbs on the L’Impedalabile path has a very regular and clean ground, so apart from the average slope which remains quite high around 12% for the entire kilometer of the climb, there are no other particular difficulties to take into account.
The Villanova climb returns to the coast that connects Lupazzano to Sasso and then at the crossroads with the road that proceeds to Campora and then, turning around Monte Fuso, reaches Lagrimone.
At the crossroads just outside the center of Lupazzano, turn left onto the SP36 and continue towards Scurano – Sasso, passing through Cà Bonaparte where you can fill up with water bottles by stopping at the Mother’s monument.
After Cà Bonaparte and the crossroads with the Val Toccana road will only take 1500 meters to reach the heavy #7 Muro di Sasso.
At the roundabout in Sasso you have to take the second exit and start climbing for Scurano, being careful that after a few hundred meters from the roundabout on the right you will see a small road called via Case di Sopra, or the beginning of the Muro di Sasso.
Short but intense, 250 meters of really bad tear. The average slope is 16% and the maximum reaches up to 26% *** (at the point of maximum slope you pass next to the wall of a house where a handrail has even been placed to help you climb and descend).
After the Muro di Sasso you have to make a U-turn and return to the provincial road towards Parma and then take the junction for Magrignano shortly after the turn left.
The Magrignano descent quickly leads to return to the SP17 Traversetolo – Sella di Lodrigano and at this point you must return once again towards Parma – Traversetolo in order to descend to the valley until the intersection where you take the Torrioncino climb.
Perhaps the most pedalable, the wall #08 Torrioncino it is 1 km at an average gradient of about 9% with a maximum gradient that fortunately never exceeds 15-16% per slice to “relax” for a moment before having to tackle slopes above 20%.
At the top of Torrioncino you must go straight on along Strada del Torrione and continuing for a few km of relative descent you will arrive having to turn right to return to Neviano via the ascent of #09 Nigrizzano, a friendly single km all in double figures which in the final part also shows off a good 22%.
However, Nigrizzano is less difficult than it seems as a generally clean asphalt with no holes helps a lot in climbing.
The final shot of Nigrizzano at 20% ends on the Neviano cosat just outside the town and turning right it will be possible to pass again from the center, where passing the pharmacy, bank and other shops area we will be catapulted into the descent of the Neviano hairpin bends.
The descent from Neviano, to be taken with caution and trying to relax, perhaps loosening your legs a little, reaches Provazzano, where in the middle of the village you have to turn right and take via Cà di Pietranera and then go down again on the SP17.
As soon as you reach the SP17 you have to turn right, direction Sella di Lodrignano, but immediately after 50 meters you have to turn left and take the junction for Bazzano.
This is where the great Bazzanese triptych begins, the final part of L’Impedalabile, the most difficult and nervous, the most varied and spectacular, the part of the Bazzanese route that retraces all the toughest climbs, but also the most beautiful and panoramic ones that surround the beloved hamlet of Neviano.
La salita #10 Pozzolo, abbiamo deciso di chiamarla in questo modo cosi che sia subito chiaro che si deve salire fino su a Scorcoro passando da Pozzolo e fare anche la rampa finale fino al 19%.
Abbiamo deciso di far passare da questo tratto di strada il percorso per vari motivi, ma così come anche per le due salite finali di #11 San Giovanni e #12 Sotto il Monte il motivo principale è che nella nostra infanzia di Bazzanesi queste salite sono state le croci e le delizie di tantissimi giri in bicicletta anche quando non eravamo assolutamente attrezzati per affrontarle al meglio.
Quante volte, per quanti anni, ognuno di noi si è piantato e ha dovuto procedere a piedi provando a tornare in paese da in fondo alla buca delle Rette tramite la salita di San Giovanni…
Alla fine dell’ultima rampa della salita di Pozzolo si raggiungerà il punto più elevato del nostro tour di Bazzano, Scorcoro, il quale ci presenterà una vista sulla Val D’Enza stupenda.
Si potranno veder bene i Castelli di Rossena, la rocca di Canossa, la Pietra di Bismantova e tutte le meraviglie della provincia di Reggio alla quale il territorio Bazzanese, e quindi del comune di Neviano, confina in larghissima parte.
Si scende quindi verso la Villa fino alla discesa che porta verso il fiume Enza stando pronti a girare a destra per dirigersi in direzione Le Rette da cui parte la penultima salita del giro, #11 San Giovanni.
La strada che dalle Rette porta a San Giovanni ha uno sviluppo stranissimo poiché appoggia su una parte di collina molto particolare ed infatti guardando la cartina si vedranno i tornanti a destra subito seguiti da curvoni che raccordano la strada verso sinistra disegnando sulla mappa una specie di “m”, tutto ovviamente con pendenze a doppia cifra che nella parte alta della salita, appena prima di raggiungere l’incrocio con la strada che porta verso la chiesetta di San Giovanni, conosciuta anche come l’Oratorio dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo.
Raggiunto nuovamente Scorcoro il percorso prevede di affrontare la discesa di Pozzolo percorrendo la stessa strada fatta pochi minuti prima in salita.
Attenzione a questa discesa è difficilissima e bisogna stare molto attenti agli incroci ed alle curve in contropendenza.
Proprio a metà della discesa in corrispondenza di alcune case si deve rallentare e prendere la strada di Rivareto che porta all’ultima asperità del giro che via abbiamo appena raccontato, la salita di Sotto il Monte.
#12 Sotto il Monte è un mito per tutti i Bazzanesi, la salita con pendenza rilevata maggiore di tutte le salite impedalabili.
Sotto il Monte richiede di pedalare poco più di 1 km ad una media del 13% con una punta massima del 30% che si raggiunge in corrispondenza del mitico “curvino” in mezzo alle case.
“Io Sotto il Monte ancora me lo sogno di notte. Per me è la salita della vita perché è stato il mio incubo per anni ed anni. La prima volta che l’ho fatta in bici da corsa sono letteralmente caduto di lato. Non me lo scorderò mai”
— Il LERIO
Sotto il Monte è l’ultima, arrivati in alto si sbuca dietro al campo sportivo di Bazzano e basterà dare qualche lieve altro colpo di pedale per riuscire a lasciarsi il bellissimo Pieve di Bazzano alle spalle e trovarsi cosi nuovamente al punto di partenza, dove tutto e cominciato qualche ora prima:
Bazzano, un paese che offre molto più di quel che vedi.
Un ultimo sguardo al percorso su un’altra interessante app per percorsi, RideWithGPS:
Note:
*** La pendenza massima del Muro di Sasso è in via verifica e di valutazione per una successiva approvazione ed attribuzione di un valore più elevato, in quanto strumenti diversi hanno registrato pendenze diverse. Tuttavia la pendenza massima non è sicuramente in nessun modo inferiore a quella attualmente dichiarata del 26%.
Credits:
Le immagini presenti in questa pagina sono state ottenute utilizzando le applicazioni Google Maps o Google Earth.
