La formula treno+bici

Galleria fotografica

The bike path of the Dolomites at S. Vito di Cadore Steel bridge at Chiusaforte The Treviso-Ostiglia at Levada di Piombino Dese

After the second world war, especially during the 1950’s and 1960’s, many local railroads, mostly running on a single track, were decommissioned and “abandoned to the winds of time” pushed out by the automobile boom and under pressure from the automotive-gasoline lobby (or to put it another way, the growing dictatorship of the automobile).

Starting during the 1980’s and 1990’s the idea began to spread to use these abandoned rights-of-way to develop bike trails. Bike paths built in this manner have become increasingly prevalent. I have singled out the following bike paths in Italy that I know from personal experience:

• The long route of the Dolomites, begun in 2003, on the roadbed of the former Dolomites railroad, which was decommissioned during the 1960’s; with the completion of the last sections near Cortina in 2012, it is now 99% complete.
• The Mantova-Peschiera bike route, built on the site of the former railroad with the same name; 100% complete.
• The Alpe-Adria bike route between Carnia and Tarvisio, built on the roadbed of the former Pontebbana railroad, decommissioned in 2001, when a new double-track alignment, running mostly through tunnels, was developed. Still incomplete with many gaps.
• The Tarvisio-Jesenice bike route, built on the route of the former (*)Rudolfian railroad between Tarvisio and Lubiana, which was decommissioned between Tarvisio and Jesenice. The final section to Mojstrana is still in the planning stage.
• The Treviso-Ostiglia bike route, built on the roadbed of the former railroad of the same name; the reconstruction project supported by (*)FIAB and many local organizations, is nearly complete in the provinces of Treviso and Padova, and still in the planning stage in the provinces of Vicenza and Verona.
• The Vicenza-Noventa Vicentina bike route, built on the roadbed of the former Vicenza-Montagnana railroad; the first segment from Vicenza to Longare had existed for many years; during 2012 the route was completed as far as Noventa.

References and links

• Giulia Cortesi and Umberto Rovaldi, Dalle rotaie alle bici [From rails to bikes], Milano 2011, FIAB Centrostudi. In Italian.