16.9
PDI
5.8 mi
DISTANCE
2,464 ft
GAINED
8 %
AVG. GRADE
FULL CLIMB STATS
INTRO
PLAN YOUR ROUTE
We've partnered with Sherpa-Map.com to bring you the best route planning tool. With a PRO Membership you can use this climb as a reference when creating your route. Madonna del Monte is 9.2 km (5.7 mi) long and gains 751 m (2,464 ft) at an 8.0% average, from 197 m (646 ft) at Arpiola to 934 m (3063 ft) at the sanctuary.
Km 0-2: 3.6%, then 5.8% - the easy part.
Km 2-5: 8.2%, 8.3% and 9.2% past Busatica and Pozzo.
Km 5-8: 9.0%, 10.1% and 10.0% through the chestnut woods - the hardest stretch.
Km 8-9.2: 8.5% through Crocetta, with the steepest pitches of the day, then easing to 3.7% for the last few hundred meters to the sanctuary.
Steepest sections: 100 yd (91 m) at 16.1%; 0.5 km (0.3 mi) at 12.8%; 1 km (0.6 mi) at 10.9%; 2 km (1.2 mi) at 10.1%; 5 km (3.1 mi) at 9.5%.
Roadway: Paved to the sanctuary, but this is a single-lane country road - patched, often damp under the trees, and covered in leaves in autumn. The last few hundred meters above Crocetta are narrower still, on older, cracked asphalt. Take the descent slowly: it's steep, shaded and full of blind bends.
Traffic: Very light. The road serves a handful of hamlets and the sanctuary, so you'll see a few local cars and, on Sundays and feast days, people driving up for Mass.
Parking: There's no dedicated lot at the bottom - leave the car in Mulazzo or along the SP31 near Arpiola where you can pull well off the road. At the top, the sanctuary has a picnic area with tables, benches and grills.
Gear: With 7 km averaging 9% and short pitches over 15%, a compact with a 32 or 34 cog is the comfortable choice. Good brakes and grippy tires help on a descent that's often wet and leafy.
Provisions: The sanctuary has a fountain with drinking water, so one bottle gets you up. In Crocetta, just below the top, a traditional inn serves Lunigiana food, including charbonnade - meat grilled at the table over coals, a habit emigrants brought home from French-speaking Switzerland about a century ago.
Before heading out on any cycling adventure check out our Things to Bring on a Cycling Trip and use our interactive check list to ensure you don't forget anything.
Montereggio, a hamlet of Mulazzo a short drive south-west of the sanctuary, calls itself Italy's book village. From the mid-1800s its men walked the roads of northern and central Italy selling books from baskets and carts, the Premio Bancarella book prize grew out of that tradition, and the Festa del Libro fills its streets every August.
Mulazzo has the remains of its Malaspina castle and aqueduct, and a medieval tower that houses a study center on the Malaspina family and the navigator Alessandro Malaspina (1754-1810). Nearby Castevoli castle, where Dante was a guest in 1306, was rebuilt from ruins in the 1990s. For Pontremoli, its statue-stele museum and its testaroli, see our Passo dei due Santi (Pontremoli) page; Passo Mistadella also starts a few kilometers away.
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