With the Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports in the villages of Central Italy

RIETI – Some journeys don’t need a destination. Just space, semi-deserted roads, long times. A trusty companion is a Honda, an Africa Twin Adventure Sports, the one with the 19-inch front wheel, more inclined to agility. Perfect in connecting with the asphalted ups and downs between the hills connecting the villages of Central Italy. From Rieti to Rieti, a circular tour of 1,000 kilometers done at an average of 68 hours per hour, covering 20.8 kilometers with each liter of gasoline.

The first curves that climb to Greccio already give the measure of a “soft” journey: the twin-cylinder pulls well, you can park between 3,000 and 4,000 rpm, always with the bike in traction, zero vibrations. Meanwhile you graze the Hermitage of San Cataldo, in Cottanello: it is a small oratory dug into the limestone rock. After a lush valley you climb slightly, crossing Rocchette: an unusual sign reads “Go slowly, here the children still play in the street”. This is the dimension, Sabina is an area where life flows slowly and simply and traffic is regulated by tractors that transport round bales of hay. Among the Sabine Mountains there is also the pretty Bocchignano, a hamlet of Montopoli, which also has a Jazz Festival.

Fianello marks, more or less, the border between Lazio and Umbria: inhabited by only two people, the village has a rare example of a pentagonal tower from the 6th century. Through Calvi dell'Umbria you arrive in Narni, to descend to the Sorgenti di Stifone, where the "Caribbean" waters blend in with the small village. You go towards Tuscania, along one of the very few flowing stretches: using the "cruise control" you benefit from the good driving position and the comfort offered by a saddle that never tires. Upon arrival in the town of Tuscia, a visit to the Basilica of San Pietro is a must: an example of early Christian and Romanesque architecture and a set for directors such as Pasolini, Monicelli, Zeffirelli, Orson Welles. The Africa Twin is also suggestive: the automatic dual clutch transmission is fluid and gives peace of mind to the driver. Sensitive to descents and climbs, it has the natural aptitude to choose the best ratio an instant before you think of selecting it.

The stretch of countryside towards Pitigliano, near Sovana with its magnificent pre-Roman Ciborium and Sorano, a town from the Etruscan era with streets dug into the tuff, is not long. You are already in Tuscany, the hazelnut groves accompany you until just before starting to climb towards Radicofani, while from there the conifers descend towards the Cassia, a chaotic road in Rome but here sweet and lovely for how it lies on the hills of the Val d'Orcia and among the fields of bright green wheat, which sway in the wind. An air of movement that the Africa Twin manages to contain frontally with the adjustable windshield, while the Honda technical clothing and the modular Kabuto helmet have a good level of ventilation.

After a detour to the Abbey of San Galgano, also famous for the “Sword in the Stone”, remaining in the Siena area you arrive in Val D'Elsa, in Monteriggioni. It is inevitable to pass through Siena, pass through Montepulciano and descend into the valley: vineyards just over a metre high stretch out without interruption, in the background Lake Trasimeno, here and there a few fields of olive trees. On the Cortona viewpoint a dozen painters, almost all foreigners, sketch that panorama that is already a fresco. Often you travel parallel to clear streams; accompanied for long stretches by the yellow of the broom, you can distinguish the smell of hay and, sometimes, of the lime trees in bloom. Pleasant essences, made of the same sweetness with which the semi-active suspensions of the Africa Twin treat the driver's back. You go to Gubbio and Santa Maria degli Angeli, Spello, Montefalco, Scheggino and its lakes.

Traveling through a lush Val Nerina you arrive at Norcia, and up to Castelluccio. Where the famous flowering of late June has already begun, in the fields sown with lentils the yellow of buttercups already dominates. From there you descend crossing Cascia and then Leonessa, from which a wonderful road starts that materializes in an enchanting beech forest, placed there as if to protect and restore the traveler: the Terminillo allows you to glimpse Rieti down the valley. Arrived.