GTL 1 Rome-Velletri

The first stage of the GTL heads south, leaving the Eternal City in the most spectacular way. The Via Appia Antica is in fact a green corridor that connects the Colosseum to the first rural areas under Rome, the Alban Hills, offering the cyclist a unique opportunity in the world, that of cycling on an ancient Roman road paved between the rows of pines, in a landscape very similar to those of the nineteenth-century Grand Tour of the German and English romantics. After about twenty kilometers of plain among ruins, noble tombs and imperial aqueducts, the first slopes begin: the GTL takes us to the Castelli Romani area, a destination for Sunday outings, volcanic lakes and vineyards, known for the traditional "fraschette", the typical taverns, and for cities of art such as Ariccia, Castel Gandolfo and Frascati. The hilly route winds between the two lakes of Albano, famous for its papal residence, and Nemi, where the remains of the Temple of Diana still stand today, and ends in Velletri. For this first stage, three existing cycle paths are used: the Appia Antica Regional Park, with small sections of the future Grab, the Eurovelo 7 route and the Via Francigena of the south, which takes us on short stretches of dirt road that it is recommended to tackle by gravel or MTB.