I GET AN “I’M FREE!” RUSH whenever I take off on a bike. That feeling, plus the Italian atmosphere, equals pure bliss. Italians bike with passion. You’ll see everything from nonnas cycling through village markets to super athletes who compete in the Giro d’Italia Feminile, one of the world’s most famous women’s bike races.
There are loads of ways to blend in with Italy’s cycling culture. You can be the chic signorina gliding into the piazza in Ferrara, nicknamed “The City of Bicycles,” where about a third of the population gets around on two wheels. You can take off for a day ride through the Chianti province, surrounded by vineyards. If you’re feeling all woman warrior, you can get an endorphin rush mountain biking through the Dolomites.
Going to Lucca and not biking along the top of the town’s old wall is like going to Paris and not visiting the Eiffel Tower. The thick wall took over one hundred years to build back in Renaissance days. After all that, Lucca was never attacked, and in the early nineteenth century, the wonderful female ruler Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister, had the great idea to beautify the top of this structure with landscaping.
Today this 3-mile/5-km loop, shaded by tall trees, is divine for a flat easy bike ride, with views of Lucca rooftops down below, backyards where the locals don’t mind you clicking photos of their laundry waving in the breeze, and fields of wildflowers. It’s perfect for families. Even my friend Cheryl’s five-year-old did the ride with no problem.
Choose your region, and take off for a week-long biking adventure. There are many companies out there offering trips for all levels of riders.
Not an experienced long-distance biker, I signed up with Backroads (www.backroads.com) to go to Puglia, attracted by the words: “Puglia is Italy’s flattest region.” I loved it so much I went back the next year to southern Sicily where there were more hills. Both were fantastic weeks. We were pampered by excellent guides, with ingenious routes that took us through farmlands and small towns for lunch and gelato breaks. Backroads supplied the bikes, great snacks, and a support van rode alongside so if we pooped out we could hop in. I had the freedom to lag behind and talk with the local farmers or speed up and join the more athletic of the group. Accommodations were in farmhouses or fortresses that had been converted to luxury hotels, with nightly feasts. There was loads of good eating, but with all the exercise, I didn’t gain a pound.
Backroads also offers special family tours designed for different age groups, and can also custom design itineraries if you want to do something really fabulous like set up a private trip with your girlfriends for a reunion or big birthday.
Also, check out Ciclismo Classico (www.ciclismoclassico.com), which runs group bike tours all over Italy with local guides, unique immersion experiences, and language lessons along the way, or DuVine (www.duvine.com), which offers tours with a culinary-forward focus, luxury and boutique accommodations.
Here you also have lots of choices for companies that can customize your experience. My sister and her husband had a wonderful week in Puglia, thanks to Experience Path, (www.experience-path.com), a Lecce-based company that expertly arranged a self-guided biking tour, providing bikes, GPS, maps, great accommodations, restaurant and sightseeing tips, and excellent service moving their luggage from hotel to hotel.
Golden Day: In Lucca, rent a bike at Chrono (Corso Garibaldi 93, www.chronobikes.com) to circle the town’s wall. Eat at Buca di Sant’Antonio, an old tavern that serves excellent local specialties, including farro soup, homemade pasta, and sliced beef sauced with truffles (Via Cervia, 0583 55881, www.bucadisantantonio.com).
RECOMMENDED READING
Lonely Planet Cycling Italy by Ethan Gelber