November 18th 2023

A perfect sunny day for cycling. It was cool, which didn't stop me from riding in shorts and a t-shirt ;-), but I hardly saw a cloud all day.

I first shared about twenty kilometres with Luigi, a 72-year-old cyclist who was doing a 'short' 60km ride for his Saturday morning. My Italian is very rudimentary, but I made some progress thanks to him. Long live nomadic school!

I'd then decided to make a little diversion via Montepulciano, even though I'd seen that it was quite a climb from Torrita di Siena. But I didn't look any further in details... This was until I saw a sign indicating a 17% gradient for the next 2 kilometres, halfway along the route. I thought to myself that, as usual, that they were exaggerating a bit. Very little, in fact. My goodness ! In first gear, I had to push on the pedals like hell. But I got there and it was well worth the effort.

However, I seemed to have been overtaken by numerous cars on the climb... And I wondered why. I suddenly remembered that it was Saturday... And I discovered on the spot that Montepulciano had inaugurated its Christmas market. With the sun shining so brightly, it was strange to see garlands, baubles and Christmas trees amongst the old stones. Not to mention the Christmas songs playing in the streets. Until the end of the road, and probably until I will fall asleep, Frank Sinatra's "Let it snow" is playing in my head in a loop. I hope I'll get rid of it by tomorrow !

Rosignano Solvay to Rieti