I will be in Italy for a couple of weeks in early May and would like to get some biking in and would like some input from others who have been there. I would prefer road bike style but would be willing to switch to mountain bike for the right place. I would like to get in enough biking to justify packing/hauling spandex/bike shoes. My plans include stays in Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, and Rome. I am already planning on renting a bike in Florence and Rome for at least a day to have a break from art. I might do some biking at the Lido or around Cinque Terre. I am comfortable with rides up to about 60 miles with moderate elevation, or shorter hilly rides (because hill training will be better in Italy than in spin class). Does anyone have any suggestions of where to go or experiences with biking?
I would love to find a nice route without a lot of traffic and with a bar every 7-15 miles for good rest places, but am not sure how many places outside the Midwest that have bars on the bike trail. Counting down the days until I can break out the road bike
Thank you!
Posted by
San Diego
1540 posts
There are several companies that do biking trips/tours in Italy and some provide the bikes. They offer all kinds (flat, hills, mountains.......)
You can google biking in Italy.
I've seen several groups while traveling and they all look like they are having a blast.
Posted by
Centennial, CO, USA
1898 posts
We've done about 7 bike trips in Italy, always with a tour company, and always SELF GUIDED. The routes are planned out, as are the hotels and luggage transfers. You have to be careful you don't ride on the highways, and it could take quite a bit of planning to figure out the safest routes.
We've toured Tuscany, Umbria, Maremma, Piedmonte, Western Sicily, Puglia, Le Marche all on our tandem bike (we bring it with)
On the bike tours we've taken, the company has always provided great maps/cues for the routes, suggestions of places to see and places to eat.
It sounds like you might do some loop rides, returning to the same hotel, then maybe moving on. Not sure about renting a bike to take out on your own for more than one day at a time.
FlorencebyBike.com is a good place to start in Florence. Or if you'd like PM me and I'll give you names of the tour companies we've used. They all seem willing to do shorter versions of their bike tours (which are usually 7 nights).
Biking in Italy is fantastic, and I'm ready to go back to another region. ....doing my research on that right now!
Posted by
Bruxelles, Belgium
7 posts
The problem to ride bike in Florence and Rome is getting out from the cities, you risk to be ready to ride back and you are still in the traffic of the city. The best roads to ride in Tuscany are in the countryside. If your main goal of the holiday is riding I suggest you, at least in Tuscany, to find an accommodation in the countryside (B&B or agriturismo) and then have daily trip to Florence, so you will be able to enjoy riding some of the most beautiful roads in the world.
You can visit http://www.terresiena.it/index.php/en or http://www.turismo.intoscana.it/en/cicloturismo/
Posted by
Redmond, Wa.
3 posts
I have spent a lot of time riding both in Italy and in France. One of my favorite areas is the Chianti region of Tuscany. I stayed in Bucine, a small village east of Chianti, about halfway between Florence and Sienna. Given what you are describing, you may want to stay in Chianti itself - Both Gaiole and Greve are excellent small Italian towns with lodging and nice places to eat. Greve has a very nice town square. Where I stayed involved lots of climbing every day from the lowlands up to the Chianti region itself...you will probably get enough climbing in Chianti itself travelling to the other villages such as Rodda, etc. and to a number of wineries and small cafes along the way. Motorists are few and seem to respect bike riders. I never had a problem. I was able to rent a bicycle from a small shop in San Giovanni from Francesco. You can google his contact information. Denio Biciclette di Calbini in San Giovanni Valdarnoa. He started off my inquiry with "I don't rent bicycles." By the time we were finished talking in my extremely limited Italian and his somewhat limited English, he provided me a nice carbon road bike for a week, and refused to take any rent when I returned it. That was six years ago, and I understand he now "rents" bicycles, so you might try there. I am returning to Bucine in late May for a week, taking another bike rider along, and I intend to do some major bicycling during my stay there and revisit Francesco.
Enjoy your trip. Hope this helps.
Posted by
OP
Iowa
68 posts
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I will have to go back to do a 7-14 day ride through the countryside. I am adding in some biking as an afterthought to my big city plans (Colosseum, Vatican etc.). More or less I saw a guided ride on the Apian way and then doing more biking expanded from there. Mostly I want to bike enough to justify bringing spandex and shoes. A good side bonus would be not losing ground as far as RAGBRAI training, but this year is easy anyway.
Thank You
Posted by
Northern California
106 posts
"with a bar every 7-15 miles"
You really are training for RAGBRAI, aren't you? ;-)
Posted by
Redmond, Wa.
3 posts
Admit, I used Chianti to train for STP. Worked well. Seattle to Portland in 11 hours. No hills to speak of...cake walk compared to Italy. Have fun with Ragbrai!! I did it five years ago...it's a hoot.
Posted by
Northern California
106 posts
Dale, you did STP in one day? You're a beast! Took me two, and that was tough enough