Cima del Monte

Dogs Unknown

This is a long and arduous mostly dirt and gravel climb to the highest point on the eastern side of the Isola d'Elba (Island): Cima del Monte (515 m; 1690 ft).

The route starts just outside Porto Azzurro amongst vineyards overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. The first km (0.6 mi) passes easily enough with a grade of only 10% on easy dirt roads. The next kilometer is steeper still, averaging around 13% grade, but the trail becomes narrower and rocky.

Finally, after struggling up this grade, the steepness evens out for the next 1.6 km (1 mi), although you're still climbing steadily. There are some awesome views down the north coast of Elba in this stretch.

A nice grove of trees at 3.5 km (2.2 mi) provides a good rest place. This is indeed a good place for a rest because next up is the push to the summit. The trail turns to singletrack here, but it's another almost 200 m (650 ft), most of it at 10% grade to the Cima del Monte.

There is an awesome 360-degree view from the Cima del Monte, supposedly the best on the island. You can see the northern and eastern coasts of Elba as well as the Italian mainland.

From the Cima, the trail becomes a rocky doubletrack is it plunges 150 m (500 ft) down to the provincial road SP23 just above the village of Rio nell'Elba.

There isn't much shade along the route, so don't pick a hot day for this run!