Thinking of going to Italy next year

[MrsJel]

After a week lazing in the sun in Ibiza, the Jelley family have decided that we don't want to do that again. We'd rather be soaking wet (on the outside) on the bikes in the middle of Germany or France or Holland or somewhere.

So next year's bright idea is to spend a couple of weeks in Italy. Ideally fly out to the coast near to Ducati & ferrari(?), rent a couple of m/c's and then see the Ducati factory, visit Ferrari museum (son is only into 4 wheels not 2) might even get to Rimini and hire a deckchair from PF Chili, must also get to Venice. Would also like to get up into the mountains (lake garda or como) again on m/c's. Then fly home again.

Has anyone hired m/c's in Italy? Done either or both the Duc & Ferrari tours? Recommend any m/c tours or places to stay?

Got an open mind at the moment about exactly what to do, so would be pleased to hear what others have done.

Carole

[sidrat]

borrowed bike from Ducati factory last time i was there, if you ask nicely they may hire you one (its who you know), the factory tour is great, i think you have to book ferrari, have stayed all over, but last time, stayed in a hotel just at the start of the futa pass, its a lovely setting and you can watch the local hot shots riding one of the greatest roads there is!

[MotoNik]

Pisa is a good place to fly in to - a lot of budget airlines go there now. A couple of weeks back Emily and I flew with Thomson Fly for £136 return for both of us! Ryanair and Easyjet go there too.

It also means you're reasonably centrally placed for both Emilia Romagna and Tuscany regions. Bologna is about an hour and a half away on the stunning autoroute, and Florence is 45mins away.

Ducati do two tours per day - I seem to recall there's a link on their website for booking yourself in. Well worth it!

For somewhere to stay, if you want to stay somewhere for a week or so we've used tuscany.net for nice villas and apartments. We can personally recommend lebbio.it for somewhere nice to stay. Only 45mins for Pisa, Florence, and Siena, and nicely secluded, swimming pool etc.

If you want to travel around I'd suggest going where the fancy takes you, rather than booking in advance - often you'll find something you book on the net isn't quite what you expected when you get there, and it's always easy to find a hotel in Italy as all the major towns have signposts to all the hotels, which makes life really easy.

If you're hiring a car don't use the rental company afiliated with the airline, as everyone else on the plane will be too, which can mean big queues.

Other than that, have fun, get some regional Michelin maps, and stick to the little yellow roads - there are some real corkers in the Appenine region between Florence and Bologna!

Cheers,

Nik

[Nonnie]

Hi Carole, we just got back from Venice. A ha, I know what you're thinking, no motorbiking going on there but, yes, we saw a few motorcyclists. So wanted to ask them how the hell they got there.

Seriously, I would suggest Siena for the Palio (nutters on horseback in a square - buy a flag and support) in late August, Portofino (oh my God, what a place, make sure you bring your finest yacht), Montecitini as a very small walled town in the mountains and very picturesque, Assisi, Sorrento and the Amalfi coast to name just a few of the beautiful places in a beautiful country.

Rod and I went from Nice to Lanciano so right across the mountains of Italy (not to be recommended if you don't like heights, big bridges maan), Abruzzo is beautiful and totally unspoilt. We stuck the bike on the autorail from Calais to Nice to save the wear and tear so that could be an option if you wanted to take your own bikes?

It would probably be cheaper to hire a scooter than a big bike, easily done from any major city but especially coastal tourist resorts. You could hire an MV Agusta! Yay!

Whatever you do, have fun. Say hello to my favourite place on Earth.

http://www.ridetheworld.net/motorcycle_tour_and_rental_in_italy.html

Oh yes and if you need some help with translating anything, give us a shout.