This itinerary, part of the larger bicycle route of the Po, is the section between the regions of Emilia and Lombardy (the provinces of Ferrara and Mantua) and takes the form partly of a dedicated bike path and partly on the river’s towpath, but with very low traffic.
The starting point is the FS train station at Ferrara; leaving the station turn left and you will pass under the tracks on a bike path that, just after the underpass, leads to a rotary; turn right following the signs for the bike route and always only a short distance from the railroad tracks until you get to Pontelagoscuro; the path ends here at state road SS16 which you follow for a few hundred meters heading north to the bridge over the Po River. Just before the bridge, on the left and indicated by the bike route marker Destra Po, one finds oneself on a small road which after a few hundred meters becomes a dedicated bike path. The path is paved in some places in good condition in other places quite corrugated.
The first section runs through a sparsely inhabited area; the Po is often visible on the right behind a row of trees; it is 19 km to the confluence with the Panaro River; since there is no bridge here one will have to return south to the village of Bondeno; just before the bike path ends it flows into a local road that takes one there; after Bondeno one takes another local road with very little traffic (in some places there is even a ban on motorized vehicles on Saturdays and Sundays).
Once past the locks at Malcantone, one arrives at the Rocca di Stellata; immediately after one arrives in the province of Mantova, where the Destra Po Ferrarese route assumes the name “Un Po in bicicletta”. This area is more densely inhabited; after 12 km you reach the village of Sermide.
This marks the end of this section of the bike route of the Po; cross the bridge over the Po, turn left to Castelnovo Bariano and follow the road to Legnago, on the Adige River, the town known as the birthplace of the composer Antonio Salieri and for being one of the four points of the Austrian Quadrilatero fortresses during the period of wars for Italian independence.
At Legnago we can find the FS train station on the Mantova-Monselice line.
Latest visit: 2006-06-18
