Biking from Florence in Tuscany

Try www.cicloposse.com a Bike Rental/Bike Tour company in Pienza, Tuscany. Our son is renting a bike from them this summer and riding on his own doing day trips from our agriturismo near Pozzuolo, Umbria (just inside Umbria a few Km's from Tuscan border) and near Pienza. This company designs tours and knows the Tuscany landscape, they will design a tour for you based on your desired route and area you want to cover. They know all the back roads and what/where to avoid. We have been staying in this area for some time driving around Tuscany and Umbria, and although my wife and I do not cycle, we have seen many that do and it seems very safe but check with Cicloposse, they will help.

Bob - Vancouver-Canada

Tuscany is very hilly, so you need to be a fit biker to venture into the countryside.
There are some bike lanes in Florence but not so much outside. You'll be riding on highways often with traffic passing you by very closely.

I will also recommend Cicloposse. Guiliana is great. and can customize a day tour for you if you want to do self guided, or guided.

You might also check into Florence By Bike. We didn't use them, but do have their jersey! http://florencebybike.com/

They are located right in Florence and rent bikes and do day tours.. Both companies can recommend the back roads, get you set up on a bike and give you info about the riding and the sights to see.

As Roberto notes...Tuscany is hilly, so do make sure you are in good bike shape. I can't imagine you'd ask about biking unless it's something you do regularly.

My husband and I have written quite a lot of Italy, Tuscany was our first tour, since then we've been to Umbria, Le Marche, Maremma, Piedmonte, Puglia and Sicily...we are going back again next year for more....

There is also a city tour of Florence by bike....we wanted to do that last fall, but we were too late in the season and not enough people were signed up.

Having returned last May from just outside of Florence, I would support Roberto's comments. The roads are narrow, very curvy, and hilly and I saw no bike paths outside of Florence. But on the positive side since the roads are narrow and windy the traffic tends to be slower than on a wide open road. There were a fair number of cyclists but we always saw them struggling to get up the hills and there are a lot of steep hills. I would call the area somewhat bike friendly given that the Europeans have a much better attitude towards bicycles than the average American. You need to be fairly fit and a good cyclists to do much mileage in the area. However, the wineries are excellent.

I did a week long bicycle tour Tuscany in 2008 and I can confirm from first hand experience what Roberto is saying about the hills! One does need to fit to ride in this area. It is also true that there aren't really any bike lanes on the roads, but Italians are very into cycling and the cars usually are respectful of any riders on the roads. I would ride there again in a heartbeat.

Thanks, all.

Thank you all for the good information!