Video trailer: Vento film follows 700km ride along Italy's River Po

Lying between the Alps to the north and the Apennines to the south, the huge, flat expanse of the Po valley is home to Italy's most prosperous area, as well as its flattest – and campaigners hope it will also become home to a cycle path nearly 700km long, following the route of the country’s longest river.

Taking its name from the cities of Venice and Turin – Torino in Italian – the project called Vento (also Italian for ‘wind’) follows five campaigners as they ride along the River Po across northern Italy over the course of eight days to showcase their plans and highlight the scheme’s viability.

The 50-minute film, in Italian with English subtitles, can be streamed for 48 hours for €4.40 or downloaded for €8, and is also available as a DVD for €14.50. You can also buy the DVD as a bundle with cyling film The Last Kilometer for €23.

Further details are available on the website of the film, which is produced by Stuffilm Creativeye and Bodà.

Here’s the film’s synopsis:

Vento is the travel diary of the eight days it took five designers to cycle across Italy, following the course of the river Po from Turin to Venice. Completed for the first time, this 630-kilometre ride was intended to demonstrate the feasibility of creating the longest bike path in Italy and one of the longest in Europe: a project that would mean thousands of jobs, sustainable development and a boost for the green economy, all for the same price as two kilometres of motorway. Their route took the cyclists along the Po Valley from the Alps to the Adriatic, crossing through four regions. The film offers a new perspective on a piece of Italy, a road movie on two wheels through historic cities, landscapes and people that have all changed dramatically over the last 50 years.