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Cycling in Italy

Cycling in an open air museum

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Cycling in Italy is like cycling in an open air museum. What a fantastic country is Italy! Of course Umbria and Toscana are popular favorites for many cyclist and other travelers.

This is partly because it is not too difficult and there's so much to see in these two provinces. Another reason is that the whole year the climate is moderate so you can travel in the center and south of Italy without a problem the whole year through.

There area many great places for cycling in Italy, it's hard to choose what to do and what to skip. I have done only a little bit in the 5 weeks or so that I was cycling. So here is what I can tell you about cycling in Italy.

Italian Riviera

Let's start with what route I did cycle, I came in from France at Col Larche, then cycled to Cuneo and south to the Italian Riviera. I followed the coast line a while before visiting Florence, continued to Rome and Naples and went along the coast south to Calabria. There I crossed to the east coast and had a ferry to Corfu in Greece. So, while cycling in Italy I had missed Milan, Venice and so many other great places. Perhaps next time.

As I wrote on the cycling in Europe page there is no point in giving many details about what to see and where to go. That alone would fill a complete website. So I limit myself here to a couple of "on the road" adventures.

Nice camping spot

Cycling in Italy

Cycling in Italy is very popular. It seems everybody is cycling in Italy. Especially in the north, Genoa on the way to Florence, Pisa, Luca, Rome, it seems everywhere I saw big groups of Italians cycling. Sometimes it was irritating because some of those groups were so big they took a lot of the available road surface.

 
Hoover your mouse over the photos of Florence to get a better view

Italians love bicycling. Not only young people, older people too. And all of them are dressed in excellent fashion cycling clothes with caps or helmets. Of course it has to be stylish. And funny enough sometimes I passed with my full pack some Italians on ultralight bike in fast looking outfit. Italy is for sure a bicycling country!

Cuneo

Cuneo is a town in between Genoa and Turin, not so far from the French border. I had come from the France. Climbing to the top of Col Larche had been easier then I expected. The French site had beautiful long slowly ascending roads.

However, going down into Italy turned to be a bit different. The road here was in bad condition, a lot of gravel and hairpin curves made the descending a lot more difficult then the climb had been. It was in fact one of the very few times I found bad roads.

The Alps, French Italian border

Worse was that my back wheel had troubles. When checking it turned out the wheel was out of line. I had to loosen the brakes before I continued. Though the scenery was awesome, I worried more about coming safe in the lower lands as I had now only my front brake available for slowing down. It was unclear why it happened. I didn't have gone through a pothole or had done strange off road cycling.

St. Peter Rome

Despite the problem I arrived safely in Cuneo. As this is Italy, I was expecting to find easily a bicycle shop where I could repair the wheel (in fact the wheel had only done about 3000 km so far, and for a bicycle of around $2000, this was very disappointing!, see my story about Jim for some details about the problems I had).

Left: In the amphitheatre in Pompeii
Right: Rome Collosseum

However, in Cuneo I was directed to a small town a few km further on: Beinette. The bicycle shop was top notch, you would expect that for US$2000. There was no way the wheel could be repaired as there was a break in the back wheel between several spokes. I had to buy a new wheel! This was a serious set back. I had bought my Koga Myata World Traveler just to avoid this kind of problems. But it turned out the rim was simply not made for this kind of traveling, it was too light (thanks Koga!)

The bike shop spoked the wheel for me but I could only get it the next morning. The town didn't have a hotel but some locals directed me to a park where I could set up my tent.

The next morning I got my new wheel which did the job for the next months. However, when I came back in Holland, Koga wanted to see the bicycle and changed my Italian rim for the same Mavic rim as originally on the bike and guess what... that rim broke within a thousand kilometer too. Bicycling in Italy had a false start, it seemed.

On way south I passed the magic temple of hera, from ancient Roman times. Although I know a bit of Roman history, I had never heard of this temple. But in Italy there are so many ruins to visit, it's impossible to know them all. But this one was worth the visit.

Calabria

hose who are cycling in Italy usually skip Calabria. That is too bad as there is plenty to see here too. I came down from Rome, Naples and Palermo. I had visited Pompeii and seen the ruins of the destroyed city. However, I was on my way further south. I wanted to cross the mountains to Catanzaro.

This road leads over a few serious mountains but it's a fantastic ride to do. Anyone cycling in Italy should come here. Catanzaro is not the place you want to stay, instead the beach is nearby at Catanzaro Lido. Beaches in this part of Italy are apparently all made of gravel so it was a little difficult to set up my tent at the beach.

I got an invitation from my friend Bea to join her and her family for a lunch. Lunch for many Italians is the most important meal of the day. Many shops close for siesta time, and families unite around the table for a big meal. I enjoyed my lunch plus, it gave me an excellent idea how Italians enjoy life and food. And believe me, Italian food is more then pizza and pasta!

Lecce and the heel of Italy

When I left Catanzaro Lido I cycled to Crotone, going north. Right at the beach site in Crotone there was the ruin of an ancient watchtower.

Some days further on the road I arrived in Lecce. The origins of the city go all the way back to the 3rd century but these days Lecce is mostly famous for the Baroque buildings. It is indeed a very nice city.

Life in this part of Italy seems a bit rougher. There are fewer cities and towns. The surroundings are less cultivated by men. Many areas here are left to nature. It's mostly flat and one would expect it's popular with cyclist. But I didn't meet anyone cyclist in this area.

And life goes on in slower speed then in the north it seems. My journey in Italy would end in Bindisi where I would take the ferry to Corfu. But I felt I had only touched the surface of Italy and even now, I still feel I have to go back and spend more time in this fascinating country.

Back to the top of Cycling in Italy

More about the road from Genoa to Florence and Rome

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