by Ester Pascolini
With the ribbon cutting, which took place on Thursday afternoon, the Fossato di Vico – Umbertide cycle route becomes reality. From now on it will be possible to explore the 15 km of route created along the route of the old railway that connected the two cities until 1945. The two sections made available by the 1st part of the works are the one that from the Montecorona station reaches the crossroads of Civitella Ranieri and the one between Camporeggiano and Zangolo.
The inauguration took place immediately after the meeting, held at 3.30 pm in the council room of Palazzo Pretorio in Gubbio, in which all the details of the project were illustrated. The vice president of the regional council, Roberto Morroni, was present, together with the regional councilor for Infrastructure, Enrico Melasecche, the mayor of Gubbio, Filippo Stirati and the mayor of Fossato di Vico Monia Ferracchiato. The mayor of Umbertide, Luca Carizia, unable to participate due to an institutional event, wanted to send his greetings through Stirati. Finally, Cristina Colaiacovo, president of the Perugia Foundation, financier of the cycle path together with the Umbria Region, could not be missing.
Stirati, in thanking all the authorities, comments: «This intervention, naturally, has a historical and emotional flavor for us, as well as representing an attractor from the point of view of territorial valorisation, tourism promotion, but also sustainability. The intervention has its own peculiarity, especially as regards the Assino valley, even if the former railway runs through the entire part that connects Umbertide, Gubbio and Fossato di Vico”.
The following speech is that of the Gubbio councilor for public works, Valerio Piergentili: «I believe that the cycle/pedestrian path was an excellent intuition of the Valle d’Assino association, which urged us and urged a whole series of subjects to intervene. These responded very well to a need in the area, even if unfortunately it was not possible to recover the entire route.”
Piergentili also talks about the many difficulties encountered in recent years: «The cycle path project has had to face, from 2021 onwards, some problems that are superior to us, such as Covid, the increase in prices, the implementation of three variants and the flood of September 15th”
It ends by entering the heart of the project: «15 km of cycle path – he says – on a total of 52 km of the former railway, 8 bridges, 2 tunnels, a demanding and difficult recovery for an area that is sometimes difficult for vehicles and labourers. Today we have a work of extraordinary importance and relevance, but the project does not stop here, further resources must be sought to perfect and create this ring of Umbrian cycle paths.”
The mayor of Fossato di Vico, Monia Ferracchiato, took the floor with a very brief speech, highlighting the tourist opportunity and the historical value of the cycle path: «This also favors – she says – the daily life of some of the citizens, who use it every day and who were very happy with the redevelopment.”
It’s Cristina Colaiacovo’s turn: «The Perugia foundation could not miss this inaugural event, given that it has been close to this project from the beginning. I remember that the Foundation has embraced the UN 2030 agenda and this intervention is part of all its guidelines, responding to many of its objectives, including objective 17 relating to partnerships between institutions. Well, this was one of these beautiful examples of collaboration.”
The meeting was closed by two speeches by Melasecche and Morroni.
The infrastructure councilor states: «The Fossato – Umbertide cycle route is part of an overall plan, including the Sole cycle route, the Central Umbrian railway, but we are already working with RFI for the Transappenninica, that is, for the union of the Central Umbrian railway with the Terni-Rieti-l’Aquila-Sulmona route, which will have a very important tourist value. The Umbrian central railway will reopen in 2026 with a totally electric mode, therefore via diesel trains. These trains will go from Sansepolcro to Terni and will promote our attractions, including the cycle path that we inaugurated today.”
Morroni says he is very satisfied: «Important and significant moment. Today we are going to add a new piece to a mosaic that is taking shape in a convincing way. This in turn is a piece of a larger mosaic, which is that of the affirmation of a face of Umbria as a sustainable region, which looks with great interest at the development opportunities deriving from an identity characterized by respect for the environment. In recent years the foundations have been laid for an Umbria different from the past, aware of its potential and strongly determined to explore the new horizons of our time”.
The cycle path inaugurated yesterday, therefore, is the result of a collective effort which has given rise to a new, great opportunity to discover an area rich in environmental resources, ideal for spending quality free time surrounded by nature.
Tags: cycle path Gubbio Fossato Umbertide railway
