Today we slowly climbed up a hill and then had a lovely 20KM descent to town. Our last night in Italy, as tomorrow night we catch a ferry to Croatia!
We adjusted start times back to more humane hours, which meant we got to enjoy a breakfast of cakes and coffee at the agroturismo, whose restaurant was a short walk up the hill through their vineyards (tasty wine at dinner last night) past their turkeys and chickens and goats and cows.
Today’s gradual climb was a welcome break over some of the more jagged, climb-only-to-go-back-down profiles we’ve recently done, along a river that cut through beautiful hills on either side. I almost drove off the road at a sign for a truffle museum, but then it looked like an uphill driveway to the entry, so I only longingly rolled past.
After a lunch stop (truffle pasta!) we quickly arrived in Visso, where military trucks diggers actively buzzing about worksites reminded us that the same forces that shaped the stunning scenery we passed can also devastate it. Visso was near the center of Italy’s 2016 August and October earthquakes. If a building wasn’t under active construction, ominous cracks down one or more sides, or missing siding altogether, marked them uninhabitable. We passed many blockades of resettlement housing – one-story cement structures with porches, painted cheerful yellows or orange – that had been built (1,400 people were displaced after the earthquake), and saw signs of activity among these as people walked dogs or brushed off stoops.
More such structures dotted other villages on the descent. We read the poster of one construction site describing 1.4 million euros invested at the state (Marche – not federal) level. With such costs already sunk, it’s difficult to imagine that further funds will be available to restore the more historic homes or town centers, though one can hope for the sake of communities that rely on tourism.
Tomorrow rolling down to the coast and on to a ship to Croatia.
Total distance/elevation to date: 4107km/32’822m
Rest days: 14
Route and Stats
Relive Video
The 1948 Tour 
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