Emiddio Bianchi. Bocca della Selva. When the route of the 2024 cycling Giro d’Italia was presented, it immediately caught the attention of two-wheel enthusiasts from the upper Caserta area and the Samnite side of Matese that the tenth stage, the 142-kilometre Pompeii-Cusano Mutri of the next 14 of May, would actually have arrived in the mountain town of Bocca della Selva. The municipality of the Benevento area, in agreement with the organizers of the main Italian stage race, second only to the Tour de France, trying to make the arrival more interesting, inserted the final climb that starts from the Pietraroja ramps, up to approximately 1400 meters of the locality tourism of Matese. Bocca della Selva is known above all for the ski slope, unfortunately forgotten for years, which is an integral part of the territory of the municipality of Piedimonte Matese, which one day had the honor of hosting the greatest Italian skier of all time: Gustavo Thoeni. By looking online it is easy to notice that the tourist station is indicated as a hamlet of Cusano Mutri, province of Benevento, but in reality a large part of the territory belongs not only to the municipality of Sannio and also to a small part of San Gregorio Matese, right in Piedimonte Matese, where the ski slope is located and there are large car parks for tourists’ cars. The part of the Benevento area ends right at the end of the climb on the Samnite side, the one that the runners will follow, a few meters after the mountain refuge “Tre
Faggi”, in the photo together with the one showing the sign indicated by the arrow, welcoming you to the province of Caserta and the municipality of Piedimonte Matese. It is exactly one hundred meters further, therefore in the straight stretch of the Piedimonte Matese territory, under the now disused ski lift which it is hoped will be back in operation, that the arrival banner of the tenth stage of the Giro d’Italia will be placed . Just for clarification, credit must be given to the municipal administration of Cusano Mutri for having spent almost 100 thousand euros to organize an event followed all over the world, while Piedimonte will spend perhaps a few tens of euros to send some traffic policemen to the area to manage the traffic conditions for the many fans who will go up to Bocca della Selva from the Caserta side. If the arrival banner will be installed in the municipality of Piedimonte, as well as the large car park, available for the numerous vehicles accompanying the Giro, everything else will be paid for by the municipality of Cusano, which has the merit of having organized an event that will remain in the annals of the Samnite town.
