CYCLING IN ITALY

Tuscany & Umbria (September 2007) Puglia (May 2010) MayQ's website was the basis for our ride through Tuscany & Umbria. However, we modified MayQ's itinerary to take in more of Umbria and our Tuscany itinerary includes Certaldo and Volterra. Also, from Todi we travelled to Assisi direct rather than via Perugia; from Assisi our trip took in Gubbio and Umbertide; and from Cortona we completed the journey with a cycle through the lovely Val di Chiana to Castelli Gargonza, finishing in Arezzo. As an add-on, we took the train to Lucca and then to Castelnuova di Garfagnana for some further cycling in that area. Just be warned that the roads are not "well-paved, smooth, almost pothole-free" (MayQ). Currently (September 2007), they weren't bad, but there are some very large, bike-unfriendly cracks, particularly in Umbria, that you need to watch out for (particularly downhill) and it would be useful to be cautious if you are riding a road bike with thin tyres. I certainly agree with MayQ that the Italian drivers are indeed courteous. Apart from feeling at times that the traffic was close (especially when climbing hills along roads with little or no shoulder and with our paniers taking up some real estate width-wise), the drivers slowed to pass and we rarely felt unsafe (apart from the larger 4WD or campervan vehicles which take up a lot of space or the occasional crazy driver - usually a black BMW travelling too fast or too close behind the vehicle in front of them and hence not able to see you cycling on the edge of the road! But then, you get this in every country ...) And the terrain is definitely steep in parts. Where we cycle locally in N.E. Victoria in Australia, we have plenty of hills but I have never struck hills such as we encountered in Tuscany & Umbria. They were endless and we completely failed to anticipate how strenuous this trip would be.

There are some changes I would make to our itinerary, in hindsight! I would build a rest day in at Siena (if you like big towns, which I don't) or Montepulciano which is delightful. This second option would permit doing a circuit on the "rest" day to go back to Pienza via Montecchiello.

I would also have enjoyed a longer stay at Gargonza.

And I would have an overnight stop at Arezzo which I think is a very classy city and worthy of a stay.

Other options, if time permitted, would be to stay longer at Cortona and Gubbio.

We made a gross error of judgment the day we set ourselves to ride from Montepulciano to Sovana (78kms). Normally this distance is not a problem for us. However on a day where we ascended to 900 m and the terrain was tough all day including a section of gravel, this part of our itinerary needed major re-working. My suggestion would be to take 2 days for this journey, stay at Piancastagnaio for 1 night and then travel to Sovana via Acquapendente.

We travelled mid-September to early October. Autumn is my favourite season and initially it was quite hot where we started in Florence, although the mornings were getting cooler - especially as our trip progressed. The main part of the tourist season seems to be over by this time of the year so the road traffic is quite manageable, making this a good time to travel.


Our cycling trip in Puglia was part of a larger itinerary incorporating Bergamo, Milan, Bologna, Siena, Rome and the Amalfi Coast. Our eldest daughter Kathryn joined us for the riding in Puglia which was capped off with a visit to Matera.

• Our Tuscany/Umbria itinerary  (September 2007)
• Cycling in Puglia (May 2010)