Porto Maurizio to Dolcedo: Into the Olive Groves

Italy · Liguria · Riviera dei Fiori

Up from the coast at Porto Maurizio into the hills, through centuries-old olive groves, to a village that's been pressing oil since the Middle Ages.

Porto Maurizio is the old fishing-harbour half of Imperia, on Liguria's western Riviera — the "Riviera dei Fiori" (Riviera of Flowers). Head inland from there and the road climbs almost immediately into the Prino valley, through olive terraces that have been worked since long before anyone was riding a bike through them.

The ride — my favourite from the area

This is my own favourite climb from this base: out of Porto Maurizio, up the climb to the top, then down the other side into Dolcedo itself. At the bottom on the Dolcedo side there's a coffee shop — croissant and coffee, then back up over the same climb and down into Porto Maurizio to close the loop. Same route out and back, just via the top rather than a flat there-and-back.

Ridden 8 August 2021, logged simply as "a ride I have done before" — already a repeat by the time it was written up. My own note: "Great ride up and down the mountain through the olive fields."

Route data (from Strava): 33.6km round trip, 849m of climbing, max grade 19.2% — a real, sustained hill route rather than a coastal spin. Elevation gained and lost almost exactly match (849m up, 848m down), consistent with climbing over the top and coming back the same way rather than a one-way transfer.

Dolcedo — the coffee stop

Dolcedo (my ride note spells it "Dolceso") sits where the Rio dei Boschi meets the Prino stream, wrapped in olive terraces — the village on the far side of the climb, where the croissant-and-coffee stop is. Its oldest bridge, the Ponte dei Cavalieri di Malta, was built in 1291 by the Knights of Malta to link the two halves of the village and move produce across the river — it's still standing. Dolcedo remains a working olive-oil village today, not a tourist reconstruction of one.

The route, from my own GPS track

Real GPS route map showing the ride from Porto Maurizio to Dolcedo — The actual recorded route, plotted from my own Strava GPX/FIT data onto a real OpenStreetMap base — not a screenshot, not a live embed, a static image built from the real GPS track.

Porto Maurizio on the coast, Dolcedo a short climb inland up the Prino valley.

What it actually looks like

A quiet lane through olive terraces on the climb to Dolcedo, Liguria — Olive terraces line the road almost the whole way up — this valley has been worked land for centuries, not scenery put there for the view.

An old gnarled olive tree in a stone-walled grove near Dolcedo — One of the older trees in the groves above Dolcedo — some of these terraces have been producing oil since well before the bridge below was built.

A hillside village seen across the valley near Dolcedo, Liguria — One of the hamlets visible across the valley from the climb.

The Pietrantica olive oil shop in the Dolcedo area, Liguria — Pietrantica, a real working olive-oil producer in the Dolcedo area — the kind of stop that makes this a working valley, not a scenic backdrop.

A narrow riverside street through a Ligurian hill village near Dolcedo — Houses stacked above the river — typical of the villages threaded through this valley.

An old abandoned rowing boat left in vegetation near Dolcedo — An old boat left in the undergrowth — a long way from the sea for a boat to end up.

Porto Maurizio's harbour

The start and finish line for this ride — Porto Maurizio's old harbour, a genuine working marina that also pulls in serious yacht traffic, with the old town rising behind it. Worth the wander before or after the climb.

A large yacht moored in Porto Maurizio harbour, Imperia, at dusk — Porto Maurizio's harbour draws proper yacht traffic alongside the working fishing fleet.

Sunset over Porto Maurizio harbour with the old town silhouette, Imperia — The old town silhouette at sunset from the harbour front.

A seafood dinner at a restaurant table overlooking Porto Maurizio harbour — The reward at the end of a long day on the bike — harbourside dinner in Porto Maurizio.