Cycling the Trebbia: From the Po to the Apennines Along Italy's Most Beautiful River

The Trebbia is a river that changes colour at every bend: emerald green in the deep pools, turquoise where the current quickens, white where the water foams over rocks. Ernest Hemingway, who saw it during the war, called it the most beautiful river in the world. Perhaps he exaggerated — but anyone who follows it by bicycle understands what he meant.

The cycle route starts from Piacenza, where the Trebbia meets the Po, and climbs the valley for around 80 km to Bobbio. The route follows low-traffic secondary roads, valley-floor gravel tracks and stretches of riverbank. This is not a dedicated cycle path with perfect signage — it is a route that assembles itself as you go, always following the river.

The first kilometres are flatland: you pedal through maize fields and poplar groves, the Trebbia slow and wide on your left. After Rivergaro the landscape shifts: the valley narrows, the hills rise, the borghi cling to the ridges. Travo, Perino, Marsaglia — villages where the bar is the only gathering place and a cyclist is still a novelty.

The most spectacular section is the Trebbia gorge between Marsaglia and Bobbio, where the river has cut deep into sandstone rock. The water is clear and cold, gravel beaches invite you to linger. In summer the temptation to swim is irresistible — and the Trebbia, fed by Apennine springs, has some of the cleanest water in Italy.

Bobbio is the final destination and the reward: a medieval borgo with a hump-backed bridge of eleven arches spanning the river, an abbey founded by Saint Columban in 614 and an old town of alleys and workshops that seems to belong to another century. You arrive tired and content, eat in one of the osterie in the centre, then head back the next day or take the train to Piacenza.

The best time is May–June and September–October. In summer the riding is beautiful but the heat in the lower valley can be intense. The route can be done in a day (80 km, modest elevation gain) or in two days with a stop at Travo.

Cycling up the Trebbia means crossing an Italy that does not change: the same water, the same light, the same stone borghi that Hemingway saw eighty years ago.