The climb to Monte Matajur is one of those outings that takes you out of time: the people in these valleys still speak a language of Slavic derivation, with small variations from village to village. The arrival point is the Pelizzo mountain hut, located at 1325m, just 300m short of the summit. There are five asphalted roads that lead towards the hut: one from Pulfero, three from Savogna and one from Idrsko in Slovenia; all join together for the last three kilometres, from Montemaggiore to the Pelizzo hut.

My favourite is the so-called “strada vecchia” (‘old road’) which saw the passage of the Giro d'Italia in 2016: it starts from Savogna and after the bridge over the Alberone immediately turns left and climbs towards Ieronizza and Stermizza. It is a road hidden by ever-lush vegetation, with the sound of water accompanying you constantly as in so many Friulian hill-climbs. Here, I do not feel like pedalling at full tilt, in part because of the slope (the most difficult stretch is towards the end after the village of Montemaggiore, 3km with slopes of 13%), and in part because it is a climb to be enjoyed.

I usually tackle it during a lunch break. Approximately halfway up, the woods give way to orchards and meadows that announce the village of Stermizza. I pass quietly through this steep village (the name of the village derives from the Slavic term Strm/Strmec ‘steep, precipitous place’) as only a bicycle allows you to do; the bell strikes one, and I see an open door overlooking the road and, inside, a pot on the “sporget”, an old woman wearing a “vìertuh” dipping a spoon into the “kùhnja”; half a second of life that I note out of the corner of my eye.

That's why I love cycling: I can enter silently into a universe of magic just a stone’s throw from the city.

Sporgét=kitchen range

Vìertuh=apron

Kùhnja=soup