Roadbook S1 Family Hike & Trail — the route trail by trail

The S1 Family Hike & Trail starts at PortoPiccolo and returns there after 14.5 km, on the shortest of the loops that take on the Karst of Duino. This page describes the route in the order you meet it: the CAI trails, the itineraries that run alongside it for a stretch and the race's own connecting links.

From PortoPiccolo to the Sentiero Rilke

The S1 Family Hike & Trail also starts from the Bora Village at PortoPiccolo, with the sea behind you and the first stretch climbing towards the Karst edge: the same opening as the longer distances, but here there is no hurry to get it done. On the Sentiero Rilke the view reaches as far as Istria on the clearest days: this is the picture you take home.

From the Bay of Sistiana the course climbs towards the Sistiana quarry, crosses the wood above the bay and reaches CAI 001, partly shared with the Alpe Adria Trail and, in the cliff sector, with the Sentiero Rilke. They are independent itineraries running here on the same ground: a shared stretch does not make them the same thing.

The Sentiero Rilke is a little over two kilometres suspended between sky and sea along the Duino Cliffs Nature Reserve, between Sistiana/Sesljan and Duino/Devin. It was here, in the winter of 1912, that Rainer Maria Rilke — a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis at Duino Castle — heard the first words of the Duino Elegies carried by the wind: «Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the hierarchies of angels?». From these cliffs comes the motto of the Corsa della Bora, being here is glorious.

Duino and the Sentiero del Mitreo

The course follows the Rilke as far as Duino/Devin and crosses the old village in front of Duino Castle, the fifteenth-century residence of the princes of Thurn und Taxis where Dante was a guest before Rilke; beside the ruins of the old castle you can glimpse the White Lady, the rock shaped like a veiled woman.

From Duino the course takes CAI 001a — Sentiero del Mitreo. At the Mithraeum Cave, or Mithraeum of Duino, it leaves CAI 001a and takes CAI 033. Shortly afterwards comes the first race fork: the S1 Family Hike & Trail takes its own shorter loop here, while the S1 Half Trail, S1 Borderless Trail, S1 TransKarst Ultra and S1 Bora Ultra continue on CAI 033.

The short loop: from the forest tracks to CAI 008

Just after the Mithraeum of Duino the S1 Family Hike & Trail leaves CAI 033. It follows two forest tracks until it meets CAI 008 and continues towards the protohistoric settlement of Duino Stazione, one of the hillforts dotting the Karst of Duino.

It is the way to feel the real Karst without the physical load of a demanding climb: the Family does not tackle the Monte Ermada loop run by the longer distances, only its lower slopes, with short ups and downs between pines and clearings and the Gulf appearing unexpectedly between one tree and the next.

Back home: Visogliano, Sistiana and PortoPiccolo

The course then takes CAI 033 again towards the Visogliano/Vižovlje sports field. This is where the S1 Half Trail comes back in after the Ermada loop: from this point on the two races share the same track, shortly after the stretch running close to the Grotta Alexander.

From Visogliano the course crosses Villaggio Verde Tre, drops down to Sistiana and returns to PortoPiccolo: the last kilometres are a smooth descent towards the sea, all the way to the Bora Village. Same finish line, same party and same medal as the other races of the day.

Technical sequence

CAI 001 / Sentiero Rilke → CAI 001a → CAI 033 → forest tracks → CAI 008 → CAI 033 → non-CAI final stretch → PortoPiccolo

The race forks

The distances starting from PortoPiccolo share the opening kilometres and split at precise points, verified on the official 2027 tracks.

• S1 Family Hike & Trail / S1 Half Trail — split shortly after the Mithraeum, at around km 7.75; the two tracks meet again at about km 8.36 of the S1 Family Hike & Trail, which corresponds to about km 16.90 of the S1 Half Trail.
• S1 TransKarst Ultra and S1 Bora Ultra / S1 Half Trail and S1 Borderless Trail — split at Medeazza, at around km 9.8 of the races starting from PortoPiccolo.
• S1 Half Trail / S1 Borderless Trail — split at the Grotta del Motore, at around km 13.2.
• S1 Borderless Trail / S1 TransKarst Ultra and S1 Bora Ultra — they merge again just after Monte Sambuco, at about km 15.6 of the S1 Borderless Trail and about km 34.8 of the S1 TransKarst Ultra.

Further reading

• Official list, tracks and technical sheets of the trails: CAI FVG trail register — Sector 0 Karst.
• The CAI trails of the Karst — numbers, official names and 2027 races across the whole network.
• The open-air museum of Monte Ermada/Grmada, a stop on the Walk of Peace/Pot miru, to understand what the mountain you skirt still holds.
• Duino and the Rilke Path and PortoPiccolo and Sistiana Bay.
• Trail running in Trieste and the Karst — the same trails, walkable all year round.

This description has editorial value and helps you understand how the route is built trail by trail. To actually follow the track, in training as in the race, only the official GPS track and the race markings put in place by the organisers apply. Up-to-date distances, elevation gain, cut-off times and aid stations are published on the race page, S1 Family Hike & Trail 14.5 km; the network of trails on which every Corsa della Bora course is built is described on the page The CAI trails of the Karst.