VIA FLAMINIA: RALLY ROUTE Bart Kleyn, rally, rallies, tour Classic car, Italy

RALLY ROUTE

NB: The amount of listed kilometres refers to the daily kilometres which the Tour class has to drive.

Friday, May 15th and May 29th

At the end of the afternoon the participating cars will board the car train in Düsseldorf (260 km from Hoek of Holland) just in time to enjoy a drink in the dining room when passing along the Loreley and the many castles along the Rhine river.

The station is conveniently located over a shopping mall with many restaurants so that participants arriving early can spend their time while buying a last snack or newspaper.

Before arrival in Verona the breakfast is served while driving through the Southern flanks of the Dolomiti.

Saturday, May 16th and May 30th

Arrival in Verona at 10 o'clock in the morning. Departure over the motorway and principal roads to the actual start of the rally; the private Maserati museum from the Panini familiy (click on the picture). We are special guests and treated upon a small and typical lunch. In the afternoon a drive over the Po-valley to the hotel near Imola (225 km)

Sunday, May 17th and May 31st

This second day we will leave the Po valley for the Apennines. The Marche region is not so frequented by tourists but the roads and scenery are just stunning. Some great driving over roads which seem to have been laid out hundreds of years ago just for the via Flaminia Tour.

We will have lunch at Giancarlo's place with a magnificent view to the sea and the Apennine Mountains. Giancarlo transformed his isolated pharm house into an Osteria which is widely known in the region. Together with his many pets he will welcome us for a delicious lunch. Some members of the San Marino car club will accompany us through the maze of small roads to their rock perched city-state where we will spend the night. (225 km)

Monday, May 18th and June 1st

From San Marino to the next stop it is only a small distance over the via Flaminia. But the Via Flaminia Tour only takes the tunnel dating back to the year 76 AD. For the rest we will wonder over narrow and curvy roads, which explore the hilly landscape. This is the day that the classification in the Sport class will be made. The Tour class will bypass the more difficult stretches toward Gubbio. This day lunch and dinner are at own expenses so that everybody can decide for himself if the want to go directly to Gubbio or stop on the way in one of the many villages. However, Gubbio is an astonishingly beautiful city with a great many excellent restaurants and the hotel is on the Piazza Ducale, the main square of the city, so it is advisable to go directly to this medieval city.

Gubbio was an important city on the via Flaminia because of its strategic location. This is were the via Flaminia leaves the valley of the river Tiber and goes into the Apennines. (150 km)

Tuesday May 19th and June 2nd

From Gubbio we will continue on the Via Flaminia until we go southbound into the Apennines. It will be a driver's day and an awesome day when the Via Flaminia Tour will go up to the planes above Norcia. This time from yet another direction with a great view on the village of Casteluccio. For some images, have a look at youtube.

The night will be spend at Cascia were the local priest will bless our cars before we go up to the Gran Sasso mountain range. (210 km).

Wednesday, May 20th and June 3th

Wednesday will be the day to remember, a day were all the sensory organs excited. First of all we will have a lunch so good that everybody will be able to find some place in its already overfilled belly.

After this plethora of tastes we will drive around the Corno Grande, with 2912 meters the highest point in the Apennines, to find ourselves back at the edge of what we have come to know as little Tibet . This desolate area with its slowly curving roads is ideal for motoring and is astonishingly beautiful in all diverse weather conditions. It is there that part of the group will sleep in an old rebuilt village surmounted by old fortifications and the other part of the group will sleep in a rebuild farmhouse next to one of one of the nicest villages in Italy, Santo Stefano (175 km).

Thursday, May 21th and June 4th

From Santo Stefano we will first pass one of the other highlights of every via Flaminia Tour, the planes of the Parco Nazionale degli Abruzzi. A moment for the navigator to relax and a moment for the driver to enjoy. Actually this day is not difficult until the regularity up to the Monteluco volcano. The road up from Spoleto to Monteluco was in forgotten times the scene of many hill climbs and it remains nowadays a challenging road. While the Tour class will be enjoying a beer the Sport class will have a race around the volcano crater (200 km).

Friday, May 22nd and June 5th

The last rally day will bring the participants for the first edition to the biggest Ferrari and Maserati dealer of central Italy. Here we will have lunch with the 100 participants, of which a great many pre-war cars, of the Coppa della Perugina. After a light lunch the Coppa della Perugina will head East to the circuit of Magione. Some of the participants of the via Flaminia tour will join the weekend happening of the Coppa della Perugina and some will peruse there way to the village of Caprese Michelangelo, a place that would inspire anybody to become a great artist and thinker.

The second edition of the via Flaminia Tour will bring us directly to Caprese Michelangelo (200 km).

Saturday, May 23rd and June 6th

The train will leave an hour later from Verona than in previous years, leaving us more time for the 300 km from Caprese Michelangelo to Verona. Especially the first part of the journey is of stunning beauty.