Bicycle Italy.org

[Are them happy? - credit: astilly]

Attractions

• Florence and its History (LINK Historic tuscany cities bike tour)
• Pisa Tower (LINK Historic cities bike tour)
• Natural landascape (LINK Inland Tuscany bike tour)
• Vineyards (LINK Inland Tuscany bike tour)
• Surrounding walls
• Castles
• Fortresses
• Palio di Siena
• Etruscan tombs and a museums

Weather

In may the weather changes everyday. It is normally clear and sunny but not hot or humid. It is local, especially in the hills. You could have a good biking with a few scattered showers. The ideal periods are Spring and Autumn but even the winter offers a suggestive atmosphere.

[View of a Trail - credit: rogilde]

Road Conditions

There are asphalt, dirt roads and trails. The territory has a capillary network of secondary roads that are in effect natural bike paths, far from motorized traffic.

Tuscany topography allow to ride its route also who isn’t not well trained, in fact you will cross rolling hills, but no steep climbs. This means that also a family with his children can ride through tuscany routes.

Suggested Bike Tours

[The Chianti Vineyards - credit: rogilde]

1° Chianti bike tour (LINK Inlan Tuscany bike tour) - Itinerary through the Chianti region, the wine country of Tuscany.
This bike tour starts from Florence and rides along the Mugello Valley, through ancient roads built by the Romans.

Its landscape has been the source of inspiration for painters and artists.

Famous Tuscans that born here: Giotto, Beato Angelico and Andrea del Castagno are all from this area. The Medici family had their roots in this land.

2° Florence tour ( LINK Historic tuscany cities bike tour)

3° Val d’Orcia and Crete Senesi. Bike ride through the typical Tuscany countryside south of Siena.

[Val D'orcia - credit: Oishi Kuranosuke]

Travel Services

In Tuscany there are hotels and country houses (agritourismo) with different services.
In towns and villages there are bed and breakfast establisments and rooms for rent that guarantee essential and cheaper services.

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[View of the Ostuni City Center - Thanks to Fedewild]

Ostuni is placed on the remains of a prehistoric town destroyed during the final throes of the Second Punic War.

Attractions

• Museo di Civilt? Preclassiche della Murgia
• Fifteenth-century Cathedral, Gothic style of Venetian and Lombardian influence, with a large and decorated central rose window that represents the Cristo Sole (Christ the Sun)

The Umbra Forest

[View of a trail in the Umbra Forest - Thanks to Argentalico]

• Beatiful landscape of Gargano: sea, hills at 1000 meters height with splendid trees:
• Zeppino dello Scorzone, d’Aleppo pine tree 700 years old
• Cerro di Vico, 400 years old with a circumference more than 5 meters
• Colosso della Foresta, a beech tree of 40 meters near Cutino d’Umbra lake.

[Cyclist in Puglia - Thanks to Roberto Ferrari]

Description of the Bike Tour

1. Start from Caserma di Caritate 272 m
2. Cycle through the forest path
3. Hard hairpin turn
4. Rise until Sfilzifountain
5. Rise until you’ll arrive in Caserma Ginestra Superiore, at 687 m sea level: here you can enjoy a beautiful landscape

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[Campania Coast - credit: krisdecurtis]

N° of Days: 1 week

Main Attractions:

• Napoli
• Capri, Ischia, Amalfi (LINK sea-coast campania bike tour)
• Pompei, Vesuvio (LINK vesuvio-pompei bike tour)

Neaples Historic Center

[View of Naples - credit: Perrimoon]

Here the Napoli historic monuments such as the many castles used as defensive fortification.

• Castel Nuovo or Maschio Angioino
• Aselmeyer castle
• Capuano castle
• Sant’enselmo castle
• Dell’Ovo castle
• Caserma Garibaldi
• Nisida castle

[Galleria Umberto in Naples - credit: Global Jet]

Other Attractions

• Plebiscito square
• Royal palace
• Teatro San Carlo, the largest opera house in Italy
• Galleria Umberto, A beautiful late 19th century shopping arcade
• Spanish Quarters

The neighborhood known as Spaccanapoli (literally, “split Naples”) takes its name from the narrow street which, under several names, divides the city running east to west.

Many of the streets of this district have Greek/Roman origins. Naples has the best-preserved original street plan of any major city in the Roman world.

• Santa Chiara, a large Gothic church
• Piazza San Domenico Maggiore
• Museo Archeologico Nazionale
• S. Francesco di Paola church
• Neaple Fountains: Sebeto, Nettuno, Tazza di Porfido

Naples is the largest city in southern Italy and the most densely populated city in Italy.

Naples remained an important city under the Romans, when the area around its bay was important for its ports and naval bases.

Transport

• Traffic is terrible, public transport is slow and not always reliable
• Parking is a major problem. So your bike will be a necessary and useful way of transport

Roads Conditions

Roads are crowded and noisy. BE CAREFUL: Napoli is a crowed and dangerous city because intense car traffic. Possibility to rent bike: There are many cycle shops for rent

Suggested Bikes

• City bike
• Mountain bike

[Cycling in Campania - credit: Feuillu]

Suggested Bicycle Tours

• Neaple city center
• Positano
• Beaches of Campania
• Amalfi coast (LINK sea-coast campania bike tour)
• Capri, Ischia, (LINK sea-coast campania bike tour)
• Pompei, Vesuvio (LINK vesuvio-pompei bike tour)

Know Before You Go

This is the region where was invented “pizza margherita” for queen Margherita in the 1830.
Here was composed the famous song “O Sole Mio”, sung by Elvis Presley too

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[Old Bike in Apulia Port - credit: Andrea Rinaldi]

Suggested N° of Days: 1 Week

Attractions to Visit

[Trulli di Alberobello - credit: boadiceafairy]

Alberobello’s Trulli - This village’s habitations are Trulli, particular houses built of stone without any use of mortar. They are circular, conical-roofed whitewashed.

Their roofs, topped with peaks, have concentric rows of gray slate and looks they are painted with astrological or religious symbols.

Their characteristic is that in the surrounding inside temperature remains almost constant irrelevant of outside temperature, therefore it is fairly warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It is on the Unesco World Heritage list.

[Beach near Gargano - credit: *Blunight72]

Beaches - The coastline round is rocky between Santa Maria di Leuca and Otranto. There are beaches around San Cataldo, San Foca, Casalabate and Torre Chianca on the Adriatic coast. Porto Cesareo on the Ionian coast is a beautiful beach to relax or make a tour bike around. The coast from around Gallipoli to Santa maria al bagno is good too. (link apulia coast tour)Headland of Gargano, bike through beautiful path with hard hairpin turn. (LINK ostuni, umbra forest)

[Ostuni view - credit: fataetoile /Cinzia]

Ostuni - Cycle along the scenic ridge road to Ostuni. Known as “The White City”, Ostuni is on the remains of a prehistoric town destroyed during the final throes of the Second Punic War. Its labyrinthine alleyways and cobblestone streets are ideal for exploring by foot or by bike. Visit to the Spanish-influenced, fifteenth-century Cathedral
(LINK Ostuni, umbra forest)

More to see:

• Umbra Forest (LINK ostuni, umbra forest)
• Tremiti islands (LINK Apulia coast tour)
• Olive Groves
• Byzantine stronghold Otranto

Apulia Cuisine

[Orecchiette - credit: Geomangio]

• Go north from Bari towards the Gargano Peninsula, you will pass dozens of miles of olive groves.
• Cereals and grains gown on the flat stony plateau that extends south from Bari, reaching all the way to Taranto.
• Puglia boasts a great culinary tradition, well known for orecchiette, pasta that bear in mind the shape of the human ear
• Altamura, renowned for its bread and friselle, disks of dried bread dipped in water and seasoned, with olive oil, hot peppers, and freshly tomatoes.
• Fine cheeses and excellent lamb and kid
• Apulia produces much more wine than any other Italian region

[Apulia Countryside - credit: paolo m? rgari]

Land Characteristic

The bicycle is the ideal way to see Puglia’s rural countryside. The region’s small roads and natural cycling tracks allow visitors to reach most of the monuments and significant cultural sites with complete freedom and independence.
Possibility of renting bike

Suggested bike tours

• Bike on small roads through orchards to the sea
• Alberobello tour, an UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Cycle through olive groves to the Roman ruins of Egnazia
• Cycle along the coast’s ancient stone villages, prehistoric menhirs and Byzantine crypts

Wether

The sunny days of the mediterranean climate allow you to bike Apulia all the year round. If you want to avoid the hot summer temperature, i suggest Spring as the best time to visit Apulia.

What people say

- “We just returned from their road biking tour of the Puglia region and it was great”

- “As for food? It’s amazing what is on offer. Puglia is mainly rural and that means loads of fresh produce.”

- “My wife and I, with our two boys aged 4 and 7 just completed the Butterfield & Robinson Homebase trip in Puglia in June 2007. This was without a doubt the best family vacation, and perhaps the best vacation my wife and I have enjoyed (short of our honeymoon!).”

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[Biking on a Sicilian river - credit: pepsy+]

Attractions

Doing a Sicily tour bike means to live particular natural and cultural experiences. Your natural tour bike will include:

• Beaches
• The Volcano Etna
• Mounts such as Nebrodi, Madonie
• Natural parks

Your cultural tour will show you:

• Phoenician villages
• Punic Cities
• Roman and Greek Amphi theaters
• Greek Temples
• Norman Castles
• Spanish Churches.
• Historic cities

[Syracuse's Greek Theater - credit: James UK]

The best time to bike

Sicily has a great secret: it is a sunny place all the year round. You can visit all the attractions in summer and winter too.

But some suggestions can be is useful:

• Summer is hot, and a tour bike in August can be hard, especially coast city for the high temperature.
• Spring is the best season to cycle all the sicilian landscape, in fact the mild climate allow you to cycle mounts, valley, coasts and cities.
• Winter is a good season too, but no for riding high-top of mounts, like volcano Etna: here in Winter the climate is cold, and a tour bike will be hard.

[St. Agatha's Feast, Catania - credit: euart]

Doing a Sicily bike tour allows you to live the real Sicilian way of life, with its folkloristic Festivity and cultural shows:

• Catania: on the 5 February St. Agatha’s Feast, a two-days of procession, the second famous religious procession in the world
• The Almond-Blossom Festival in Agrigento
• The Pistacchio festival at Bronte
• The Chestnut Tree festival at Trecastagni
• Euro Chocolate at Modica
• Palermo: S. Rosalia Festivity on the 15 July
• Taormina’s Greek Theater holds theater, opera, movie, and music performances
• Siracusa: in Greek theater you can see INDA shows (National Institute for Ancient Drama).
• Ottobrata: in Zafferana you will taste tipical sicilian food with singer and comics shows

[Sicilian Cannoli - credit: fazen]

Gastronomic experiences

• Sicily is famous for its pastries: Cassata, Cannoli.
• Wine is another well know product of Sicily with its variations like “Marsala”, “Passito di Pantelleria”, the “Nero D’Avola” and the most important “Etna Red.”
• Sangeli: pig gut cooked in blood is a specialty of catania cuisine
• U pani ‘ca meusa: bread roll with calf spleen and lung
• Granita and Gelato (ice-cream)
• Pasta alla norma (LINK Mediterranean diet.com)

Suggested Bike Itineraries

1° A wonderful place: Etna - The Etna is a great Volcano. Winter is a good time to visit Etna, when the crater is full of snow. But the summer is a good time too, the only difference is an easier tour bike because the absence of snow and higher temperature. Consider to be provident while choosing your equipment when climb on the summit.

[Mount Etna Eruption 2007 - credit: CyboRoZ]

Bike tour on the Etna volcano

1. Reaching the summit, through woods and hidden trails.
2. Philosopher Tower, a high refuge seat in a rudimentary construction that legend ascribes to Empedocle, a philosopher from Agrigento lived about V century a. C.
3. Bicycle tour of the Mt. Etna villages tour bike: you will cross the characteristic mountin villages by your bike:
4. Nicolosi, Linguaglossa, Zafferana, Belpasso, Adrano, Bronte, so you can see and live Sicily history. (LINK north sicily bike tour)

2° Greek atmospheres

• It is sure you will enjoy seeing Agrigento and its magic Temples Valley
• Syracuse and its Apollo temple, Greek theater
• Greek show of Segesta, with its Doric Temple made around V a. C. and the Greek theater.(LINK west sicily bike tour)

3° Cities: visit the most important cities of the island Catania and Palermo

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[Woman biking near Cagliari - credit: piermario]

Places to visit

Inland places: Gennargentu mounts, Riserva Naturale di Monte Arcosu, Lago di Mulargia
Stagno di Cabras, Lago del Coghinas, Sulcis iglesiente (LINK Sardinia inland bike tour)

Costa Verde (green coast), in the west Sardinia, has spectacular beaches and dunes.

Smeralda coast is one of the most enchanting italian places VIP (LINK Sardinia coasts bike tour)

[Alghero Coast - credit: Marcia_Salviato]

Beaches

Alghero beaches:

• Mugoni beaches, 18 kilometers northwest of Alghero
• Porto Palmas beach, 40 kilometers northwest of Alghero
• Porticciolo beach, 17 kilometers northwest of Alghero
• Maria Pia beach, 2 km northwest of Alghero.

Baia Chia, such as a caribbean beach
Cagliari’s beaches (LINK Sardinia coasts bike tour)

Historic Attraction

• The Nuraghe is an archaeological megalithic monument. It is a truncated cone tower, built with huge square blocks of stone, more than 20 meters in height. You can find this attraction in the northwest and south-central Sardinia.
• Garibaldi House Museum

Weather

Mediterranean climate, temperatures reach and even exceed 30C. May is a perfect month to biking Sardinia.

Suggestion on Accommodations

I suggest to book a hotel in Alghero or Cagliari and take trips out. The main reason is that most of the small places will still not have opened all their hotels and restaurants for the summer season.

[credit: mailliw]

Roads Condition

Costa verde in the west has many dirtroads.
The routes is middle-high difficult

Geography

Gennargentu, 1,834 meters sea level, is the highest point in Sardinia. The largest river on the island is the Tirso, which is 151 km and flows into the Mediterranean Sea

Music

Sardinia is one of the world’s most interesting musical place. Here is one of the oldest forms of Vocal Polyphony, known as Canto a Tenores. Big names of international music have found it enchanting, such as Frank Zappa, Ornette Coleman, and Peter Gabriel.

Language

Sardinian is a Romance language of Latin origin, but with an obscure Pre-Roman element, including Phoenician, Etruscan, and Near Eastern languages

[Gennargentu - credit: Sicco2007]

Bike Trips Suggestion

1. Sardinian Nuraghe, example: Cycling between ancient Civilization
2. Smeralda coast biking
3. Costa Verde biking
4. Beaches Tour (Alghero, Cagliari)
5. Unmanned and wild inland places such as Sulcis Iglesiente(LINK Sardinia inland bike tour)

IMPORTANT! To visit Sardinia inland You need a map of its territory.

Problems for Bikers

Some bikers ask questions about stray dogs, in fact many people have had probelm with them. You’ll meet stray dogs in the towns, but not in the countryside.

What other bikers say

“I think the island is a diamond for ambitious bikers, a rough diamond!”

“The island roads are steep and empty (almost lonley, I had 120 km tour one day with less than 50 cars) and dammed hot. Take plenty of water for your daytrips because in some villages you might pass, even bars are closed between 1 pm and 4 pm.”

“It is cheaper to hire the bike for a whole day - they are that cheap! Women Bikes are 7 euro a day. (9am - 7.30pm). Men Bikes are 9 euro a day.”

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