Ciclovia del Sole by bike

Cycle path crossing an old metal railway bridge at Osteria Nuova, near Bologna

Photo: Città metropolitana di Bologna, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Distance
about 392 km (244 miles)
Country
Italy
Difficulty
Easy to moderate
Type of trip
Cycling route

Ciclovia del Sole, the Sun cycle route, is the name Italy gives to its part of EuroVelo 7, which runs from North Cape to Malta. It’s also route 1 of Italy’s national Bicitalia network. The part with an official project, a website and its own sun logo is the national tourist cycle route from Verona through Bologna to Florence, across Veneto, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, with the Emilia-Romagna region leading. It isn’t finished. In November 2026 the official site, run by the Città metropolitana di Bologna, says you can ride from Verona to Bologna. From Bologna over the Apennines to Florence, most of it is still to be built, though a few pieces are done, such as about 11 km between Montemurlo and Campi Bisenzio near Prato, opened in September 2026. For the rest, the official site points you to routes meant for experienced cyclists, or the train.

The part that’s properly built follows the old Bologna to Verona railway between Mirandola and Osteria Nuova, near Sala Bolognese. It opened on 13 April 2021 and runs along the old railway embankment, past small abandoned stations and over the line’s metal bridges. It’s asphalt, open only to bikes, and wide and smooth enough for tandems, handbikes and electric wheelchairs, with five rest areas where you can charge an e-bike. The working Verona to Bologna railway runs alongside, with stations at Mirandola, San Felice sul Panaro, Camposanto, Crevalcore, San Giovanni in Persiceto and Osteria Nuova, so you can ride one way and come back by train. From Osteria Nuova into Bologna there’s a temporary signed route, partly on quiet roads shared with cars. The official site lists hotels, B&Bs and restaurants in each town, and the eXtraBO outdoor tourist office in Bologna sells self-guided Verona to Bologna trips at 40 or 60 km a day.

Highlights along the way

  1. Mirandola and its marshes: The Renaissance town of Pico della Mirandola. The Valli di Mirandola marshes, nearby, are a protected area for birds, with trails, information panels and places to stop and watch them.
  2. San Felice sul Panaro: For a long time a fief of Matilda of Canossa. The big Estense fortress, the Rocca, still stands.
  3. The old railway bridges: The route crosses the Panaro on one of the railway’s old metal bridges, now carrying bikes. There’s another at Osteria Nuova, near the end of the built section.
  4. Sant’Agata Bolognese: Home of Automobili Lamborghini. Its museum, the MUDETEC, is full of the firm’s historic cars and sits close to the route.
  5. San Giovanni in Persiceto: One of the oldest villages on the route, with a round old centre known as the Borgo Rotondo. Piazzetta Betlemme is covered in trompe-l’oeil paintings by the film set designer Gino Pellegrini.

Distance

About 392 km (244 miles) from Verona to Florence, the figure the project gave when the first section opened in 2021, with 154 km (96 miles) of it in Emilia-Romagna. The section on the old railway from near Mirandola to Osteria Nuova is 46 km (29 miles), according to Italian Wikipedia, and the official site calls Concordia sulla Secchia to Bologna 60 km (37 miles) of plain. In Lombardy, an 88.6 km (55 mile) stretch from Ponti sul Mincio through Mantua to Moglia opened on 4 April 2024. In Veneto, about 28 km (17 miles) from Piazza Bra in Verona to Salionze, near Valeggio sul Mincio, opened on 9 October 2026. North of Verona, the Adige valley cycle path is already built all the way to the Brenner, about 400 km (249 miles).

Best time to go

Bologna has a humid subtropical climate. Most of its rain falls in spring and autumn, and snow isn’t unusual between late November and early March. Building work is still going on. In February 2026 Bologna Welcome reported work under way on the Bologna stretch between Pontelungo and Parco Talon, and the official site still describes Osteria Nuova to Bologna as a temporary route. Its text from 2024 also said the final link between Concordia sulla Secchia and Mirandola was being built. Check cicloviadelsole.it before you go, and use the Bicitalia map for the parts north of Concordia, which the official site says aren’t complete.

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