Italy's largest national park holds a secret most riders never discover. Italus — a 1,230-year-old Bosnian pine — grows on a ridge where the road ends and the silence begins. Here's how to find it, and what the riding is like to get there.
The road from Campotenese climbs through a corridor of ancient pines, their bark twisted like rope, their crowns spreading wide against a sky that seems closer here than anywhere else in the south. At 1,500 metres, you cut the engine. The silence is immediate and complete.
The Pollino is Italy's largest national park — 192,565 hectares straddling Basilicata and Calabria, a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2015. Most riders heading south pass through without stopping. The autostrada is faster. But the autostrada doesn't pass by Italus, and it doesn't earn the view from Serra Dolcedorme.
Who is Italus?
Italus is a Bosnian pine (Pinus heldreichii) growing on the flanks of the Pollino massif. Its age — 1,230 years, confirmed by radiocarbon dating at the University of Tuscia — makes it the oldest known tree in southern Europe. When Italus was a seedling, the Byzantine Empire still existed. The Vikings had not yet landed in North America.
You won't find it on the road. The last 40 minutes to the tree are on foot, on a trail that leaves from Piano Ruggio at 1,550 metres. But the riding up to that point is the point.
"The Pino Loricato doesn't grow where life is easy. It grows where nothing else survives — on bare rock, in wind, at altitude. That's the tree. That's also the road."
— Davide De Caro, SudRidersThe route
The Parks of the South tour covers this ground on Day 1: Salerno to Campotenese, 246 km. You leave the coast at Sapri, climb through the Cilento and cross into Basilicata at Lauria. From there the road rises steadily through Rotonda — where the Ecomuseo del Parco houses the fossil remains of a 400,000-year-old elephant found in the Mercure valley — and continues north to Campotenese.
The most rewarding section is the SS92 between Viggianello and Rotonda. It's a road that doesn't try to impress: no hairpins for drama, no viewpoints with signs. Just a clean line through a mountain valley, empty at midweek, with the Pino Loricato symbol appearing on road signs as you enter the park boundary.
When to go
The Pollino is a park for every season, but the best riding months are May to June and September to October. In May the lavender park at Campotenese is in bloom — a field of purple directly beside the road, visible from the saddle. In October the forests turn amber and the roads empty out completely.
The park is free to enter. No reservations, no barriers. You simply ride in. The visitor centres at Rotonda and Viggianello can help with trail maps for the walk to Italus. Allow a full day at Piano Ruggio if you want to see the tree.
The Parks of the South tour covers Pollino, Sila and Aspromonte over three days, ending at Villa San Giovanni on the Strait of Messina. The Pollino section is Day 1. The rest of the route is here.
