{"id":100634,"date":"2026-07-29T05:16:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T05:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.s1trail.com\/roadbook-s1-half-trail\/"},"modified":"2026-11-07T15:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T15:20:29","slug":"roadbook-s1-half-trail","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.s1trail.com\/en\/roadbook-s1-half-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Roadbook S1 Half Trail \u2014 the course, trail by trail"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"S1<\/span>
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ROADBOOK<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roadbook S1 Half Trail \u2014 the course, trail by trail<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

23.3 km from PortoPiccolo around Monte Ermada: every CAI trail and every connecting section of the race, in the order you come to them.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The S1 Half Trail starts at PortoPiccolo and returns there after 23.3 km, with Monte Ermada at the heart of the course. This page describes the course in the order you come to it: the CAI trails, the routes that run alongside it for a stretch and the race\u2019s own connecting sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From PortoPiccolo to the Sentiero Rilke<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From the Bora Village at PortoPiccolo the S1 Half Trail gets off to a fast start. The start is at \u2018Le botteghe\u2019, inside PortoPiccolo, and the course drops down Strada della baia and Strada di PortoPiccolo to Sistiana Bay; from the bay a flight of stairs climbs up to the road, and the S.P. 3, on tarmac, leads to Piazza Barone Goffredo de Banfield, where the course joins the Sentiero Rilke. It is about 2.1 km, almost all on road: the field has time to spread out before reaching the trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From here the course follows CAI 001, partly shared with the Alpe Adria Trail and, along the cliffs, with the Sentiero Rilke. These are separate routes that happen to run on the same ground here: sharing a stretch does not make them the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sentiero Rilke runs for just 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 \u2014 a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis at Duino Castle \u2014 heard the first words of the Duino Elegies carried to him on the wind: \u2018Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the hierarchies of angels?\u2019 It is from these cliffs, too, that the Corsa della Bora takes its motto: \u2018Being here is glorious\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duino and the Sentiero del Mitreo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The course follows the Sentiero Rilke as far as Duino\/Devin and passes through the old village in front of Duino Castle, the residence of the princes of Thurn und Taxis, where, according to tradition, Dante was a guest before Rilke; beside the ruins of the old castle you can make out the White Lady, the rock shaped like a veiled woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Duino the course picks up CAI 001a \u2014 Sentiero del Mitreo. At the Mithraeum Cave, also known as the Duino Mithraeum, it leaves CAI 001a for CAI 033. Shortly afterwards comes the second point where the races split: the S1 Family Hike & Trail turns off onto its own shorter loop, while the S1 Half Trail, S1 Borderless Trail, S1 TransKarst Ultra and S1 Bora Ultra carry on along CAI 033.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towards Medeazza<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Duino the terrain changes character: you leave the coastal cliffs behind and head into the heart of the plateau, where Monte Ermada \u2014 Grmada in Slovene, 323 metres \u2014 dominates the landscape like a sentinel between two worlds. The climb is gentle and steady, never brutal, through mixed woods of pine and beech; its slopes still hide trenches and fortifications from the Great War, now reclaimed by vegetation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The S1 Half Trail carries on along CAI 033 and then moves to CAI 003a, which leads to Medeazza\/Medjavas. Here, at around km 10.4, comes the main split between the races: the S1 TransKarst Ultra and the S1 Bora Ultra take the long branch towards Jamiano, while the S1 Half Trail continues together with the S1 Borderless Trail towards Monte Ermada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cross-border sector of Monte Ermada<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From Medeazza the course picks up CAI 003 \u2014 Alta Via del Carso \u2014 and runs through the cross-border sector of Monte Ermada\/Grmada, past the area around the Jastreb summit, the Grofova jama (Grotta del Fuoco, also known as Vogenca) and the Grotta 1\u00aa a nord del Monte Querceto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the Karst landscapes most densely marked by the war. After the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo, in 1916, the Austro-Hungarians, having fallen back from the heights of Monfalcone, made Ermada the linchpin of their defences, controlling the Brestovizza valley and the routes towards Trieste. Today the mountain is an open-air museum \u2014 trenches, cave shelters, artillery emplacements and observation posts \u2014 and a stop on the Walk of Peace\/Pot miru<\/a>, the cross-border remembrance trail linking more than three hundred First World War sites across Italy and Slovenia, from the Alps to the Adriatic; the Walk of Peace<\/a> documents the mountain\u2019s positions and hiking loops. The Grofova jama<\/a> is a cave rich in formations, where Austro-Hungarian engineers carved out terraces and bunks for the troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Grotta del Motore and the fork with the S1 Borderless Trail<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The course continues on CAI 003 to the Grotta del Motore, also known as the Caverna del Monte Querceto: a natural cave adapted for military use. Here, at around km 13.5, comes the fork with the S1 Borderless Trail, which carries on eastwards on CAI 003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The S1 Half Trail, by contrast, leaves CAI 003, follows a forest track and briefly takes CAI 008, where it overlaps with the Vertikala SPDT. Without dropping down towards Ceroglie, it reaches the summit and fore-summit area of Monte Ermada and passes close to the Grotta sul Monte Ermada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The return: Case Coisce, Visogliano and PortoPiccolo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From the summit area the course continues on CAI 003a through Case Coisce\/Kohi\u0161\u010de, then takes CAI 033 and rejoins the S1 Family Hike & Trail shortly before the stretch that passes close to the Grotta Alexander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From here the two races run together towards the Visogliano\/Vi\u017eovlje sports ground, pass through Villaggio Verde Tre, drop down to Sistiana and return to PortoPiccolo. The last kilometres are the most runnable descent on the course: the route heads back towards the sea and closes the loop at the Bora Village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technical sequence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
PortoPiccolo roads, stairs and S.P. 3 \u2192 CAI 001 \/ Sentiero Rilke \u2192 CAI 001a \u2192 CAI 033 \u2192 CAI 003a \u2192 CAI 003 \u2192 forest track \u2192 short stretch on CAI 008 \/ Vertikala SPDT \u2192 CAI 003a \u2192 CAI 033 \u2192 stretch shared with the S1 Family Hike & Trail \u2192 PortoPiccolo<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The race forks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The distances starting from PortoPiccolo split at precise points, checked against the official 2027 tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n