I am an avid road and mountain biker (bicycle) and I'm going to see Italy for the first time by bike - I'm looking for some decent hill climbs for the challenge, and of course great food and scenery. The guy I'm going with has seen Tuscany several times, and is leaning towards Sicily, but I'm wide open. What would some of you recommend between these two if you were an avid cycler? Thanks in advance!

topping for gn

I love both Italy and bicycling, though to tell you the truth, the only bike I got around to riding was a surrey in the Borghese Gardens in Rome! Nonetheless, I did look up as much as I could about cycling in Italy by going to Yahoo (though any search engine would do) and plugging in "bicycling in Italy." I came up with travelogues by cyclists, itineraries and descriptions by professional tour companies, and basic tourist information (the Umbrian post is very good in particular). I know this isn't as good as my telling you first-hand, but at least you may get some ideas about which way to go, and some good reading as well.

I teach at a school in the Abruzzo (Lanciano)about 3 miles from the Adriatic and with the Miale and Gran Sasso portions of the Apenninne mountains at our back. one of my fellow teachers is a cyclist and he advises me that his cycling club has played host to the Italian National Cycling Team on several ocassions because this area is considered bike heaven, many hills, good climbs with lots of challenge, great views and excellent food and lodging at the end of the day. The Abruzzo National Park has cycling for tourist info if you do not wish to do your own thing but prefer a group.

My wife and I cycled the Lake District of Italy about 8 years ago. Landed at Malpensa, assembled our bikes (we always take our bikes with us from Dallas) and rode out of the airport, first stop Stresa on Lake Maggiore, from there, Locarno (in Suisse), Giornico, Bellinzona, Ponte Tresa on Lake Lugano, Como on Lake Como and a ferry to Varenna with lots of stops in between. We had no room reservations (we did the trip in September) we never know how far we will ride that day. Lots of opportunities for hill climbs, if you want a real challenge try the Dolomites. We've been to Sicily, not biking, but towns seem far apart, we're not campers. If you do go to Sicily, the climb to Erice would be a real challenge. When we were there the road was closed, they were using it for motor racing hill climbs. We ride hybrids, all our gear with us.

Gnacey - You want a decent hill climb? Head for the Dolomites. Serious bikers' heaven.

But only if you're super fit.

Steve

No surprise you didn't get more responses, seems like this is a sedentary bunch. We have cycled in most of western Europe, would be happy to share our experiences. We recently posted for info for touring the Baltic coast of Poland, not necessarily by bike and got only one reply from a kind soul planning the same trip. We are avid bikers, but mostly tourers, we average 25-30 miles/day. I'm 66, my wife is XX 37!

Richard - I'm glad to hear of others like us! There is a 24-year difference in ages for my husband and me. We enjoy cycling and are planning to try the Tuscany Coast this September. We plan to use VBT. Any experience with group tours? We want good rides with varying scenery. We don't need to break any records or kill ourselves on the hills. Any info. for or against our plan would be greatly appreciated.