KMII
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Dolce Vita Road Trip Part 1 - the SS65 from Bologna to Florence 🏁🇮🇹
Been a while since I have posted a write up of a road trip, so figured it’s a good opportunity to return to the genre. Some time ago I did a ‘mountain passes of the Mille Miglia’ themed drive through parts of Italy. In the end this was the focus of a small section of the drive, with the others to follow in separate posts.
As we are remembering our dear departed Captain in this week’s WS, I felt starting with the Mille Miglia section was apropos - he certainly had several Mille Miglia capable cars in his collection 🙏🏻
As so often in Italy, roads change in character over their length and while the SS65, which features the historic Futa and Raticosa passes, goes all the way from Bologna to Florence, the really fun part is somewhere between Pianoro and the artificial lake next to Barberino di Mugello.
According to the route plan the drive was to be done straight after breakfast but as we arrived early enough the night before we decided on a reconnaissance run before dinner so that both of us could drive the same stretch.
The reconnaissance run was a mixed bag, with some glorious moments and a lot of fog as dense as I have never encountered in my life. Anyway, the hope was that the fog would lift by the morning.
On the one hand this used to be a main trunk road before the Autostrada network was completed, on the other there were still hills to be traversed. The combination you get is great for a modern car - sufficient width for an articulated lorry will allow for a good ability to pick an optimal line even in the porky and wide machinery of today. And enough of sinuous curves throughout to enable the many ascents and descents the route requires.
In some sections its old origins are quite visible, like separated curved bridges, where making one might have proven a challenge back in the day.
Lots of interesting buildings along the way, too (and no, this is not the best of the lot, just one I accidentally managed to snap).
The fog returned on some segments but nowhere near as bad as the night before, where on occasion you had to go at walking pace.
Through the fog cover the weather cleared and the rest of the SS65 - here more standing for special stage than strata statale - could be enjoyed fully.
The Raticosa Pass is fairly low at 968 meters but the drive is wonderful irrespective.
The section between the two passes is on a plateau and perhaps less three dimensional but still full of a wide variety of curves, keeping the drive interesting.
The Futa Pass is a tad lower at 903 meters.
And it’s largely downhill from there - in terms of altitude, the road remains fun. One more point, overtaking. Being a former trunk road, there are occasional overtaking possibilities built in but not exactly many. While reasonably deserted nowadays (apart from the locals), something accelerative is highly recommended to dispatch slower traffic at the first opportunity, as the overtaking sections are few and often short.
Getting to the accumulation lake at Barberino di Mugello slows down the adrenalin and ups the variety of what is to be seen next to the road.
In winter the chances of seeing a firefighting amphibian were zero but at least one knew that they were there if the situation required it.
And finally the descent into Florence. There’s a handful of corners, where you have a glorious view of the city but sadly there was no good opportunity to take a decent picture 🤷🏻♂️
Which became easier once again on foot in the city.
And finally the watch for the day - the Chopard Mille Miglia 2014 Race Edition, which was done for the anniversary of the reunification of Italy 🇮🇹
Hope you enjoyed the drive and there are some more sections where this came from 👋🏻🏁
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Dolce Vita Road Trip Part 1 - the SS65 from Bologna to Florence 🏁🇮🇹
Been a while since I have posted a write up of a road trip, so figured it’s a good opportunity to return to the genre. Some time ago I did a ‘mountain passes of the Mille Miglia’ themed drive through parts of Italy. In the end this was the focus of a smal...
Thanks for that 😊👍🏻
These days the serious ones get done without the family as they would not enjoy it. Depending on location they are generally 600 miles plus a day and of highly concentrated driving. Not a fully mod friendly environment 😂
Fabulous car choice 👌🏻👍🏻
We had an M3 Competition Touring this time around. Very capable overall but the seats are less than ideal for several days of hard driving and the brakes gave one a strange feeling. They did the job objectively but you never felt you could fully rely on t...
Not sure…
If yours was the M5 or RS6 (my memory is fading fast) but both should add the comfort on the longer stretches to the excitement one gets with the RE4 👍🏻
Thanks for taking us along!
I was there in 2011 for a Bologna/Milano/Venezia roadtrip, I still remember getting a speeding ticket in central bologna upon my return from the rental car company and we were in a diesel compact car. I had a great time, food was amazing as always. Those ...
You may be right…
When it comes to motorcycles. But I don’t ride so cannot give a definitive picture. We did it in an M3 Competition Touring and while generally a very capable choice it wasn’t ideal. One of the main downfalls were the seats, which were not up to the job of...
Thanks for sharing the trip...
The road looks good for some spirited drive...and you had the right watch with you😁
A very enjoyable drive: thank you!
And I like your MM: the cream and red dial looks very good. Best, Emmanuel
The red and green details on the cream dial…
Are a nice touch indeed. The date wheel even here is not dial colored, though 🤷🏻♂️
Wonderful! Brought back many memories, the Pianoro reminded me of .....
Did you take the Via Bolognese down to Piazza della Liberta to enter Firenze? Piazza Liberta has a mini Arc de Triomphe Spent a year of my life here Formative
I do vaguely remember that the younger you spent time in Italy 😁👍🏻
Will check the route as to the entry but it was a long slow descent into town (we were largely avoiding the autostradas throughout). There are several more installments to follow, probably likewise in your erstwhile hunting grounds 😉👍🏻🏁
Towards the South…
Into Lazio, East to Assisi, North to San Marino and a small Alpine section 😊👍🏻
What an awesome drive, KMII! Thank you for taking us along!
Roads look perfect for enjoyment and some fun peppered in, for sure. Great choice of watch as well! Love the look your MM on that strap! Happy Easter, Alex
Thanks Alex - glad you enjoyed the ride!
Will have several more installments in the weeks to come. Find it a bit of an easier read on the one hand and also easier to write them separately (especially the uploading pictures part) 😊👍🏻
Indeed…
Was convenient and in some ways very capable but still not my favorite 🤷🏻♂️ The seats, the brakes, the rear axle… Has good grip on snow, though, on which more in the next episodes 😉👍🏻
Nice trip. And nice destination. The Birthplace of modern perspective drawing.
Brunelleschi considered the Baptistry at San Giovanni to be the "near-perfect building" inspiring his studies in visualization and representation. c Italy Guides and www ...
The fascination of this place…
Learning unexpected things all the time 😊👍🏻 Thanks so much for this piece of history - much appreciated 👍🏻🙏🏻
Will slowly do 😊👍🏻
The write ups require a bit of map checking (the other segments more so, as we had to fight GoogleMaps to get a fun route as opposed to a short or quick one) 😊🤷🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️