I have lived in Lombardy for the first 25 years of my life. This is a region in Northen Italy that spans from the Alps to the Po river. I have visited most large towns in the region and I thought I knew it quite well. Today we cycled from Brescia to Revere, one of the last towns in South-East Lombardy, and I discovered that Lombardy can be very different from one place to another. Two days ago we were in Montespluga and Dervio, very similar to Switzerland in terms of food, accent, landscape. Today we are still in Lombardy, but here people speak with an accent that I thought was typical of another region. And the food, too, is completely different from what I consider “Lombardy food”.

We started the day in Brescia and after a few km we hit a “strada bianca”. Immediately after, however, we had to cycle on a narrow road full of lorries driving at 80 km/h very close to our legs. Then, more strade bianche and finally a very pleasant cycle path along the Mincio River to Mantova.

Mantova, palazzo della ragione

Yummy Nutella

We had lunch in Mantova at Trattoria dell’Oca. The typical dish here is tortelli di zucca and risotto alla mantovana, both highly recommeded. We left again in the early afternoon, and the temperature reached 35 C and above. We kept following the Mincio and then the Po River. We had to stop for the heath to refill water bottles. We also stopped in a football field and we had a cold shower using the hose that is used to water the grass…

We reached Revere at 4PM and we had a fantastic dinner with tigelle and gnocco fritto at a small restaurant called “Al Barachin” in Ostiglia. Highly recommended!!

This is the trace for today: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1251216054