Linguaglossa – Piano Provenzana

Side #savecyclists

Linguaglossa – Piano Provenzana

Side #savecyclists

Another side HC Hors Categories, the northern side of the stretch Linguaglossa up to Piano Provenzana and also the longest: 18 kilometers all between 6 and 7% average and 1168 meters in altitude but with a final of 3 kilometers all above 10%. The north side of the Volcano is a climb for real climbers, the one that most closely resembles vegetation and hairpin bends to the Alpine climbs. This is the slope that climbed the Giro 2011 as the first assault on the volcano, before descending to the south and climbing again for the arrival of the stage at the Rifugio Sapienza square.

Leaving the village of Linguaglossa, first a long 5% straightaway then the first ramps are characterized by gentle slopes and wide hairpin bends, immersed in a luxuriant and fragrant nature of the broom flowers that characterize the thousand share of the north side of the volcano.

Then as the road climbs the landscape is surrounded by forests of conifers, larches, firs and pines are the master until you get to the kilometer 10 under the shade of the Ragabo pine forest.

Here the refreshment is assured not only by the shade but above all by the two shelters Brunek and Ragabo that face each other in their own outdoor pergolas, seen on the street, they always welcome droves of motorcyclists and cyclists. Motocrossers cross and delight of this side, the one chosen by the centaurs of Eastern Sicily for the impossible gold challenges: traveling on Sunday morning is never too recommendable, unfortunately, just because of the continuous coming and going of motorcycles that touch the curbs of the road and make the beard to the parapets: this is the reason that led us to identify it as the ascent #savecyclists, because here even more we require attention.

A wooden structure like a hut, a stop at the bar of Michele (character-manager of Brunek) becomes one of the greatest pleasures of climbing: sandwiches made with fresh ham and bread will be the last reinforcement before the grim final slopes, immersed in an alpine landscape, out of the lava context that awaits you just above, the Rifugio Brunek is also a refreshment post for horses protagonists of the mountain in the journey of horseback riding on the paths of the Ragabo pine wood.

After passing the two refuges, the 14th and 15th kilometers smooth out and then present themselves in front of the breathtaking scenario of the 2002 cast of the "perfect eruption" which in October of that year redesigned the contours of the Piano Provenzana ski resort. The road at that point begins to climb on slopes almost always above 10% climbing right in the middle of the basalt cooled the casting that leads in three kilometers straight straight to the landing area of 1.805 in the square of Piano Provenzana, the most popular ski resort of the Etna district.