Italy (local)

Milosz describes six itineraries in this prime cycling territory. The text is accompanied (off-line, with inline thumbnails) by some gorgeous pictures.

A ride from Chioggia to Venice and beyond, along the tiny strip of land that separates the sea from the Laguna. A bicycle ride is one of the best ways to exprience this magical terrain...

Mt. Marmolada is in the central Alps. Before I first went there I had this mental image of snow-capped peaks and vertical cliffs that could not possibly allow any reasonable bicycle riding. I found this is wrong, it's in fact fairly easy - if exhausting - to ride in the Alps because all the roads and trails avoid the really steep mountains and remain in the valleys and lower and less steep mountains. Riding in the Alps means rarely riding on either level or really steep roads, 4 or 5% is typical but it can reach 10% or more in places. Roads usually wind their way up or down in serpentines. I live in Berlin, which has only very minor hills, and I am a poor climber, but I found that I can manage a pass or two a day in the Alps without too many problems. The reward of the trouble is awesome scenery.

From Arrivèe On-Line, Audax UK's quarterly magazine.

A certain Frenchman, Georges Rossini of Thonon on Lake Geneva, has set up four testing Alpine routes, or 'Raids':

• Randonnee Alpine - Thonon to Antibes, 740km and 43 cols through the French Alps.
• Randonnee Alpine - Thonon to Trieste, 1180km and 41 cols through the Swiss and Italian Alps and Dolomites.
• Randonnee Prealpine - Thonon to Antibes, 894km and 47 cols through the French Alps.
• Randonnee Prealpine - Thonon to Venice, 1209km and 69 cols through the Italian Alps and Lakes.

Most of the places we stayed were walled medieval towns, each with histories dating back centuries, and each with its own identity and flavor. One such city was Volterra. Perched on a high plateau, Volterra has been occupied since prehistoric times because of its strategic location. [...] The fields of colorful spring wildflowers, flowed up to the vineyards, which were just starting to spread their new spring growth across the hills, while roves of olive trees added their own unique presence to the landscape. Tall, stately spires of Italian cypress appeared to march across every distant ridge, usually leading to a small farm or a large villa. As we finally entered the ancient gates of the city, we collapsed in the shadows on a cool stone bench.

There are two major roads out of Riva, towards Monte Brione to the east, and south towards Monte Tremalzo and others. Monte Brione is good for short but difficult tours; this hill is roughly elliptic, with the west side nearly on level with the lake and the east end sloping up and then dropping sharply. It looks like a large cylinder buried at an angle. There is a Worldcup trail along the steep east edge and plenty of single trails. A road leads up and ends at a large bunker near the top. Monte Brione was crowded with mountainbikers when we were there, it has terrain for everybody.

Tour 30 July 1991 from 7:30 to 21:00. Breno - Edolo - Passo Tonale - Dimaro - Campo Carlo Magno - Lodrone - Riccomassimmo - Bagolino - Passo Croce Domini - Breno, Km 213.

Yes, we do have the Alps in Italy. But the Appennino has its own fascination, and nothing better than this report can bring it out.

Two days: Green meadows and scattered masi (wooden small houses for the storage of hay) is the characteristic landscape of Comelico valley; the road continues along the Piave river (mild climb) up to Salafossa mines (closed) and a tunnel puts us on the climb to Sappada. This reach of road is excavated on the rocky side of the valley which here is a very narrow gorge and there is the impressive sight of the Orrido Acquatona in which the river Piave flows on the bottom of the gorge (here very deep and narrow).

Includes Rome-Venice, Amalfi Coast (including a video clip), Genoa-Pisa-Florence, Aosta Valley.

Everything you have ever heard about bicycling in Italy is true. The weather, terrain, roads, and cities are all perfectly suited for bike touring.

For those of you who're planning to go to Italy by bike and specifically to cross Lombardia region near Como's lake, you can't miss such a place: there are many types of reason that can get you to go there.

You know, this is an ascent that from both sides has the last part quite demanding although short: a good test to evaluate your ``grimpeur'' attitude. At the top look at right side of Como's Lake and at the two mountains named Grigne in front of you.

Even if you're not catholic, do enter the little church (free entrance) : it's also a cycling museum. It's up to you saying a prayer before starting the visit as a sign inside suggests. You'll find here the originals used by Bartali, Coppi, Merckx: looking at the Merckx one, see the gear he used ... There's also the bicycle Moser used in Mexico City in 1984 to improve hour record and last, sadly, the Fabio Casartelli's bicycle used in Tour 1995 (Fabio born not so far from here). Again there's a lot of original maillot (pink , yellow, rainbow) belonging to all time champions. Every year on december 24 there's a religious meeting celebrating great champions that are no more here in this world.

For three years ``Lombardia 's Tour'' has been choosen to be the last race of World Cup and even if its path has been changed, it always includes Ghisallo: take the opportunity to ride along a piece of one most popular Italian cyling races.

La Flaminia Minor, ancora oggi oggetto di studio, fu costruita dalle truppe del console romano Gaio Flaminio nel 187 a.C., due anni dopo la fondazione di Bologna avvenuta nel 189 a.C. Questa strada aveva il ruolo importante di unire le aree a nord dell'appennino con quelle a sud, partendo da Claterna (odierna Maggio, frazione di Ozzano) fino ad arrivare ad Arezzo.

Alberto has ``read all the books'' and writes beautifully (alas, in Italian). This travel story from the Alps in the North-East, West across the Alps, and then South to the Mediterranean on the coast of Tuscany, is a must.

A tour of the Alps - 2190 km and nearly 50km gain in 16 days.

Now accompanied by a biggish Photo Album.

Firenze - Siena - Montepulciano - Assisi - Gubbio - Urbino - Rimini. Km.: 550 - Giorni: 6 - Periodo: Maggio.

Rick and Monica's plans are stymied by awful weather at first. But they make up for this with a great tour of Tuscany, including San Gimignano, Pisa, and then Trentino and Lombardia. Very nicely illustrated.

San Gimignano is the most striking of the walled cities. It has a skyline of towers built centuries ago that has earned the nickname of ``the Manhattan of Italy''. The town can be seen for miles and miles away and is truly a ``not to be missed'' site. Our maps paid off as we cycled over the seldom used back roads throughout the Tuscan region. We passed hundreds of manicured vineyards. We rode by ancient castles, olive groves and fields ablaze with sunflowers. We enjoyed the hills, the scenic narrow roads and the warmth of the Italian sun. At last the weather had improved!

A small guide to getting out of Torino without being run over by too many cars.

A two days ride among great mountains. Green meadows and scattered masi (wooden small houses for the storage of hay) is the characteristic landscape of Comelico valley; the road continues along the Piave river (mild climb) up to Salafossa mines (closed) and a tunnel puts us on the climb to Sappada. This reach of road is excavated on the rocky side of the valley which here is a very narrow gorge and there is the impressive sight of the Orrido Acquatona in which the river Piave flows on the bottom of the gorge (here very deep and narrow).

Has a section for on road and off-road tours in Sardinia (Sardegna)

An insider look at one of Italy's most beautiful areas from a backroad cycling point of view. Do the names Montalcino, Chianti, Pienza, Montepulciano ring any bells with you?

Cycling in Northern Italy? Visit this new website offering both accommodation in, and information about, the stunning region hosting the 2008 Road Cycling World Championships. Resources include detailed itineraries for spectacularly scenic mountainbike routes, photos, links to local weather forecasts, train timetables and much, much more.

I live in the middle of the largest flat area of Italy [...] every time I want to do a nice ride I have to go by car at least as far as the nearest Prealps mountains. So, having planned a mountain bike trip for a Sunday of late autumn, I left from my flat city that day, even if the weather was not so good. [...] I arrived at my planned bike starting point (Rotzo village, on Altopiano di Asiago, Veneto region) while the sky was releasing a nice amount of rain. [...] I took a downhill road, the speed increased along with the humidity of my clothes; soon my hands (protected by not so good cycling winter gloves) became colder and colder and so my feet. [...] The downhill road is very long and I went down fast enough to lose the sensitiveness of my hands and feet. Even my limbs, after a while, became hard to move! [In the end] my fleece sweater was quite wet and so my polypropylene jersey but my body was still warm! Of course it took a bit of time to recover the complete functionality of my legs and arms, hands and feet but I was helped by a good fireplace and a big hot wine glass!

La Val Casies una stupenda valle laterale dell'Alta Pusteria, lontana dal turismo di massa anche nei periodi di punta [...] agli amanti della bicicletta, ed in particolare della MTB, [...] offre opportunità veramente uniche di stupendi itinerari tra il verde delle malghe ed il silenzio dei boschi. Tra questi itinerari abbiamo scelto un classico, la ``Via Romana'', che si presta, per le due varianti che descriveremo in seguito, sia a biker mediamente allenati, che ad esperti amanti del single-track tra radici di abete ``spaccapolsi''.

I'm pretty sure that no matter where you live, there is one trail among your home ones that is generally considered as the trail, a classic of the genre.

For Trento, the place where I live, the choice of most local bikers would fall on the Santa Colomba trail. Easily doable starting from the town, not really difficult but with some challenging sections, it offers a small selection of the standard ingredients of an off-road ride. Mind you, it is not a spectacular trail, such as the ones you can find higher up in the Dolomites. But it's an excellent choice for a half-day ride, which means that on Sunday afternoons you have to line up to ride it!

The ``mountain of Trento'' offers some challenging trails for local bikers. Have a look at what's in store.

A mountain bike ride from Mittenwald to Bolzano/Bozen in five days.

Monte Conero is an impressive mountain with an elevation of 572 meters jutting into the Adriatic Sea just south of the port of Ancona. [...] [It] is a fovorite spot for local mountain bikers and can be explored by numerous trails.

[...] ho cercato di mettere insieme alcune delle mie esperienze per preparare un percorso che permetta di vedere quelli che sono a mio modo di vedere alcuni dei posti piu belli della costa veronese del lago di Garda

A nice little valley in Südtirol.

I stop to open a gate, a recurring event here, and start the final climb to the top. Some short walls, with rather uneven road-bed, force me to dab now and then, but soon I'm on top, at about 2200m, after a 1000m gain. The view of the Dolomites, unimpeded in all directions, is really magnificent. I skip the pleasure of Südtiroler cuisine at the hut, and begin the descent. It will be a 2000m drop from here to Bolzano/Bozen.

Il percorso ``Giravila'' si snoda attorno al piccolo centro abitato [di Villareggia] ed alle sue frazioni e case sparse, attraversando anche parte del territorio della vicina Moncrivello. Chi lo affrontera potra rilevarne il cospicuo interesse paesaggistico-naturalistico e storico-locale.