Do you know how to obtain a list of rural accommodations in Italy? Have not been able to locate a "Guide to Rural Hospitality: Agriturisomo, Agriturist". We plan to bicycle south from Milan airport (Malpensa) to the Po Valley toward Venice.

check out these 2 pages: <BR>http://www.initaly.com/agri/agri.htm <BR>http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/5733/Tuscany1.html

For more than a list, actual recommendations, see www.karenbrown.com. She has two lists, B & B's and Inns. She has an excellent rep. for recommending places with character. The problem w/ www.initaly.com is that the rural places are mostly self-catering rent-by-the week and it sounds like you need short one or two night stays. Also, since you are going by bicycle, you might need to carry a book w/ you. She sells here books. You could just tear out the pages for the region you need since I imagine you need to travel light. Also, I found that if I read about a place in a travel book but wanted to see pictures or find a web link or email address this web site is sort of a raw listing of places but not user friendly for searching: www.agriturist.it.

Our Touring Club of Italy guide to Umbria had many Agriturismo listings at the end of the book for each region under the captions "Farm Holidays" It also listed campsites and hotels. Don't know if they have a guide for the area you are interested in, but you might check your local bookstore. It also has excellent detailed descriptions of the towns, cities and surrounding areas. Good luck!

This might seem like I am on my "high horse", but I am struck that this interesting question hasn't attracted more interest. There is frequently a lot of complaining about "the same old tired questions" - - and here is something genuinely fresh! <BR> <BR>It may well be that few if any readers here know about this region. I was drawn into trying to investigate a little bit more - - I have driven across the A4 (Milan to Verona/Venice) and down the A1 (Milan to Parma/Modena/Bologna - - though I have never actually visited any of the latter three). Here's a pain in the butt way to see the geography that defines this region: <BR> <BR>Paste the following address into your browser. <BR> <BR>http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com...ine/index.html <BR>?id=362&size=medium&left=6.77&bottom=42.78&rig ht=13.97 <BR>&top=47.47&point=x12.565,x41.87&text=Italy <BR> <BR>(eliminate the carriage returns that separate these three lines and make this all one continuous URL). <BR> <BR>You can also see this area as a mapquest.com map by centering on Cremona (western half) or Ferrara (Eastern half) and setting to "big map", click back once towards "zoom out". <BR> <BR>Of the larger towns in the Po valley, I have only vaguely heard of Lodi and Cremona (of violin-making fame). Does anyone else know Cremona? I'm not sure how "rural" it is. Remember that many of Italy's smaller cities were once thriving "cradles" of civilization - - city-states in their own right. <BR> <BR>Anyhow, I ramble, I know (and pontificate, too). On a web site for Cremona (the APT - - the official tourism web site for the city - - about 99% in Italian) - - www.cremonaturismo.com - - I found the following list of agriturismo locations - - there are about 25 of them - - but these three, in particular mention "cicloturismo", or something similar. <BR> <BR>None has an internet presence, as far as I can tell. <BR> <BR>SOLAROLO RAINERIO (the town): <BR>Azienda La Capannina (the name) <BR>Tel. 0375310191 - 037595361 (fax?) <BR>Titolare: Zardi Genaela (the proprietor) <BR>Attivitą: Ristorazione, pesca sportiva, parco giochi, tiro con l'arco, vendita prodotti, cicloturismo <BR> <BR>SPINO D'ADDA (the town) <BR>Azienda Fraccina (the name) <BR>Tel. 0373965166 <BR>Titolari: Mazza Gian Battista e Gherardo <BR>Attivitą: Ristorazione ed alloggio, passeggiate a cavallo e in bicicletta, pesca sportiva <BR> <BR>STAGNO LOMBARDO: <BR>Azienda Lago Scuro <BR>via Pagliari, 54 <BR>Tel. 037257487 <BR>Titolare: Grasselli Fabio <BR>Attivitą: Ristorazione, passeggiate a piedi e in bicicletta, birdwatching, attivitą ricreative <BR> <BR>I hope that reading this tickles someone else's memory about any of these places; and if it doesn't, I hope you get a chance to take this trip, bbchesler, and that you come back here to tell us more about it. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR> <BR>