Hi guys, i'm looking to do a trip to Italy next year. I have only ever done the north, so I am looking for any recommendations on places to stay, best roads to ride, etc. Ideally we dont want to be moving every night, so probably want a couple of bases. It goes without saying that we will be visiting the factory Any recommendations to check out would be gratefully received. Cheers, John. p.s. why must we pick a prefix, this isnt model specific...
Hi, where do you want to go in Italy? I mean, which part? Where are you going to ride during the trip?
I am expecting to drop into Italy and stop somewhere near Riva Del Garda. Next stop near the factory so we can do the tour. After that, we have no specific plans. I had thought about doing some of the roads used for the Moto Giro which I think starts at Terni. The main thing is, we want to do some decent roads that are not back to back villages. Staying somewhere and doing loops out works great for us as it allows people to do different things, including the wives to have a day or two off the bikes, and let us have a good play For that reason central works great as we can go in all directions, but a nice coastal village would work too. Any suggestions would be great, and we will then try to string them all together. I've stumbled on this web site: 422 Motorcycling Roads Italy so having a trawl over it at present.
To clarify, we've done the alps and dolomites a number of times, so looking to go down the spine of Italy for a change as We've never been further south than Verona / Milan.
How many days? Km per day? Italy's roads vary really much from place to place just like the road contidition. I suggest you to follow this link Le Strade Italiane più belle | Benvenuto motociclista! . It is completely in italian, but it should be not so hard to understand... If you need a hand, I'm here Just start from the region. If you plan to go to borgo Panigale and visit the Ducati factory (did I understand correctly?) you will have to stay in Emilia Romagna, that is quite central. From there, you have a really good amount of choice: - Marche (really good natural landscapes, good roads, San Marino and Rimini) - Toscana (really good roads and food, thermal baths, and a beautiful coastal part, and Florence of course!!) - Umbria (good roads, truffles if you like them, Norcia with hams, sausages and other products) I live in Rome, and I don't suggest you to go much lower if you plan to enjoy the roads because there are only a few that I really consider really good. The southern part of italy is really beautiful, but roads are really a PITA and really too far from your position I think. Let me know, and I'm sorry for my english skills :Bag:
I will take a look tomorrow night, thanks for the suggestions We like technical twisty stuff, the more hairpins the better Usually we ride 9am to 5pm or 6pm stopping every 90 minutes or so for coffee and pee stop (for the girls). We are used to UK roads, so bumpy Italian ones shouldnt be a problem. We've done most of the main passes in the Alps, so know to expect the tar over-banding (black spaghetti). Its great to hear we are best to stay above Rome. I will discount the lower part now, thanks :Happy: Your english is great, its a lot better than my Italian anyway
I know the spine of Italy really well. You must do the Monte Sibillini national park areas. Great for rolling roads with a bar frequented by biker's at the top. Further south in Abruzzo try lake Scanno from Sulmona. Can be more specific if required. Enjoy Lloyd
If you haven't already considered it, I'd recommend the overnight motorail train from S'Hertogenbosch in Holland to Livorno in Italy, see the Railsavers web site for details. It's not cheap but it can save days of hard riding just to get to Italy, and home again. You can book it one way, so could use it to replace the long slog home. My wife and I used it back in May for a two week tour of central Italy. We kept the riding days short, and had a lot of days off the bike. We took in Pisa, Sienna, Orvieto, Assisi, Arezzo, Bologna, Monterosso al Mere and Lucca. I'd already spend a couple of long holidays in Florence so gave it miss this time. Our route used a lot of back roads over the mountains, which are twisty and the road surface is poor in places. We used the overnight ferry from Harwich to The Hook of Holland. S'Hertogenbosch is only an hour and half from The Hook. The train only leaves on Fridays and comes back on Saturdays. We had a 2 berth compartment which was OK but there isn't much to do on the train. The meal in the restaurant car was very good and got us out of the compartment for a couple of hours. I've already booked the train for our two week tour around Sardinia next year, and have half planned a tour down the Croatian coast using the service to Koper for 2016.
Steveb, that is exactly what we are doing, so we get down there mid day Saturday. I reckon it saves us 1.5 to 2 days of travel, fuel costs, hotel rooms etc, so doesnt come out too bad. Not done the rail before, just thought we would give it a try and gain a bit more time in Italy. We are 14 people on 10 bikes in 4 carriages on the train, plus a couple that have chosen to ride down. I will investigate the harwich ferry, as we were going to do the tunnel thursday evening and then do a cheap b&b local to the train. thanks for the suggestions so far. I will check them out Lloyd I would love to hear further info. I know we wont be able to do everything in the time we will have, but hope to cover the best of what is on offer. PM me if you prefer. As I said above we like technical twisty roads, ideally avoiding all the coastal traffic. We are only there until the wednesday, leaving thursday to head back up to germany to meet up with our clubs annual trip. Thanks guys. Much appreciated.
John, hope you enjoy the train part of the trip. One thing to consider is some temporary protection for your crash helmet when getting on and off the train as there isn't a lot of head height on the vehicle carriages. The Livorno end was worse as it hard to get moving with your head ducked down to one side. I'll be taking some duct tape on my next trip. Staying in a B&B in S'Hertogenbosch is a good idea if using the tunnel. The Harwich/Hook ferry was better for us however we did hit a lot of stationary traffic around Rotterdam at rush hour on Friday morning - miles of lane splitting, luckily the Dutch drivers were accommodating.
Can't go wrong with Tuscany. Lucca, Florence etc. Great roads. I enjoyed Milan and Genoa as well. The Alps obviously, I did the Furka Pass and on to Lichtenstein.
When I went down to Imola WSB last year I based myself in a great country B&B at Castel del Terme (?) just South of Bologna. Dead handy for Bologna and the Ducati factory and perfectly placed for the great roads over towards Florence. Did a great circular route one day that took in the Passo della Futa and Passo della Merglione. Brilliant!
As Steveb says re the train. (hi Steve). We stayed at an agro tourismo farm b&b in Tuscany just outside San Gimignano. Our pool looked at the famous towers of San G. It was self catering, clean with it's own kitchen. Couldn't fault it at all. Pictures somewhere on this forum of it with our 3 Ducatis basking in the Tuscan sun. From the b&b was an hour and a half to the factory on a crap surface auto toll road.
My thread 'Out&About in Tuscany, on the (this) Multistrada page dated May 26th this year has pics of the b&b and train etc. don't remember how to link this, sorry.
There's some beautiful roads, countryside, villages and food & drink in the south (Basilicata, Puglia etc). The south is where Italians head for their hols. The North is where foreigners go. Guess who's got it right
It felt like the entire populous of Italy were on holiday in Croatia when I was there in July. Not surprising given the cost of things between to two countries.
