Bicycling Tuscany, Italy, May, 2005

Click on any of the pictures below for a larger image (about 80KB each). The pictures will pop up in a separate window, so you should turn off any popup blocking software.

There are many companies offering bicycle tours in the Tuscany region of Italy. The companies have slightly different routes, but most focus on the hilly Chianti and Crete regions around Siena. Our route covered 40-50 miles and 3000 feet of climbing per day. The roads were rarely flat, but the steepest sections were generally short. Our tour was organized so we spent two nights each in three different hotels. On the first day, we did a loop (or two) to nearby towns. On the second day, we rode to the next town while the VBT van shuttled our luggage. This arrangement worked well, allowing people to choose, if they wished, shorter loops on the layover days. On the transfer days, the van was available for people who wanted a shorter ride. (Click on any picture for a larger image.)

Rental bikes are included in the VBT tour price. I chose a standard road bike (STI shifters and triple crankset), but hybrids are also available. The road bikes were a little heavy (Shimano Sora entry level components), but they were stable and durable and well maintained by our guide Enrico. The bikes come with a rear trunk pack to carry extra clothes as well as souvernirs.

I flew from San Francisco to Florence (via Frankfurt) arriving Saturday, May 7. (See the end of this report for photos of Florence.) Our tour started on Sunday with a bus shuttle to the Villa Ducci which overlooks the medieval hilltown of San Gimignano. Hilltowns like San Gimignano were founded during the middle ages (mostly 1000-1400 AD). After the Roman Empire collapsed, the locals moved their towns (and roads) to the hills and surrounded them with tall stone walls for protection from the roving barbarians. San Gimignano is the most famous (and popular) Tuscan hilltown, because of its many towers and also because of its easy accessibility from Florence. Here are some photos of San Gimignano. We visited many other hilltowns on this trip, many just as pretty as San Gimignano, but much less crowded.

On our first day at Villa Ducci, we fitted our bikes, then took a short warmup ride to check the bike fit and handling. On Monday, our ride involved two 20 mile loops, passing by San Gimignano twice. The morning loop was pretty easy, but the afternoon loop dropped down into the valley, then had a long, sometimes steep climb back up to San Gimignano. Now we know why they are called hilltowns. After that climb, the rest of the week was easy.

Sunrise and sunset from Villa Ducci.

On Tuesday, we rode to the pretty Colle Val d'Elsa for lunch. The town is perched above a lush river valley. After lunch, we rode past Monteriggioni, which was once a heavily armed outpost between the fueding territories of Siena and Florence. The red poppies are in full bloom in early May. Unfortunately, the sunflowers were not blooming this year.

Our hotel is Villa Lecchi, up a (steep) hill with nice views overlooking the valley.

On Wednesday, we ride through the Chianti region to the beautiful city of Siena. There is one hard dirt road that is not too difficult. During the middle ages, Siena was a rival of Florence. Since then, Florence has suffered from suburban sprawl, while Siena has controlled its growth and retains a very medieval atmosphere (except for the tourists). Highlights include the ornate 13th century Duomo and the views from the 14th century Torre del Mangia overlooking the Piazza del Campo square. The 100 meter tall tower (second tallest in Italy) involves over 500 stairs, but that is easier than some of the hills we're climbing on our bicycles.

On Thursday morning, we visit the Benedictine abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore. The abbey is full of 15th century frescos and our guides Melissa and Enrico explain their stories to us. In the afternoon, we take a hilly ride through the Crete area of Tuscany and the towns of Asciano, Trequanda, Castelmuzio, and Petroio. Enrico says this ride has 73 hills, but most are very short; only a couple of them are more than a mile long. The street sign says the climb up to Trequanda has a 15% grade, but it feels steeper. Enrico helps push some of the cyclists up that hill. Our next hotel is a renovated cloister in the town of Pienza. On the way into town, we pass a field full of red poppies and other wildflowers.

Pienza is a quiet and pretty hilltown with just a little tourist traffic because of its association with Pope Pius II.

The last riding day of our tour is also the longest: 50 miles. The ride is mostly flat, however, with just one long climb up to the remote hilltown of Radicofani. Radicofani was built on an ancient volcano and because of the odd geology, we can see the medieval fort above the town from miles away. Today, there are no tourists in town, just some locals chatting at the town gate.

After Radicofani, our guides Melissa and Enrico prepare a nice picnic lunch of local goodies. In the afternoon, we visit the hilltown of Montepulciano with the giant church below the town, then back to Pienza for the end of our tour. On Saturday, we have have a bus transfer back to Florence. After the bike tour, I spent 3 days in Florence before flying home. For some photos of Florence, click on the Florence link.

My thanks to our guides Melissa and Enrico for a great job of keeping our tour organized. The Tuscany hills tour is great for intermediate level recreational cyclists. While the daily distances on this trip were not great, there were lots of hills and hilltowns to keep it interesting. For cyclists looking for less of a challenge (or more sightseeing time in the towns), there were shorter ride options every day that were still very scenic. VBT also offers some much flatter tours (visiting different towns) along the Tuscany coast. I think they did a great job and will recommend them to my friends.

Some hints for people considering a cycling tour in Italy:

• VBT does a great job with the small tour details, including airport transportation, hotels before and after the trip, free rental bikes, etc.
• VBT offers several different tours in Italy, but they do not have as wide a variety of tours in other countries as some of the other companies (locations and difficulty levels). This is only "difficult" bike tour that VBT currently offers and there were no real mountain climbs. Hard core cyclists will probably be happier with a different company.
• On most days, we had a choice of 3 different routes with different lengths. In most cases, the routes were the same before lunch, but then the easier routes would take a shortcut or van shuttle to the finish. On our tour, the three Californians who had been riding regularly through the winter did the longest routes every day (40-50 miles/day). The shortest routes were usually 15-20 miles/day, giving you more time for off-the-bike sightseeing.
• A typical day on the tour would start with breakfast at 8am. The guides would review the route either during or immediately after breakfast, then we would start riding at around 9:30. With the lunch stop and sightseeing stops along the route, the longest cycling routes usually finished around 4 or 5pm. Dinner was usually at 7:30pm and those Italian 5-course dinners can be 3 hours long. I brought a book with me on this trip, but the only free time I had to read it was on the airplane.
• Tuscany can get very hot during the summer and there isn't much shade on the long climbs. Summer is also the busy tourist season. Late-April through May and mid-September through October are probably the best times to visit. During the fall, you will miss the wildflowers, but you may get some fall color. You can find average daily temperature ranges for Florence on weather.com (Siena and the hilltowns will be about 5 degrees F cooler). The summer heat waves, starting in mid-June, can bring temperatures well over 90F. During the winter, snow is common in the hills.
• The saddles on the VBT bikes are kind of short and wide and mushy. If you have a racing-style saddle on your bike and like it, you should bring it with you. Bring your clipless pedals, too.
• Measure the saddle height (distance from the bottom of the pedal stroke to the top of the saddle) and handlebar reach (distance from the nose of the saddle to the handlebar) on your bike and use these numbers to customize the fit on the rental bike. Because of different frame angles, you may need to experiment a little find your most comfortable fit.
• We walked a couple of miles or more on most days when visiting the hilltowns along our route. If you're using clipless pedals, mountain bike or touring shoes with recessed cleats will work better than road racing shoes. You could carry a pair of sneakers or sandles with you. Or you could leave them in the SAG van, but the van may not arrive/leave at the same time as you.
• Most lunches were not included in our tour. A "siesta" period in the afternoon is common in Italy. Between 2pm and 5pm, all stores and restaurants are closed in the smaller towns. The VBT routes were arranged so we could generally find a town with food before 2pm. On days when this was not possible, we bought sandwiches at an earlier town, then carried them to our lunch stop. Fresh sandwiches and pastries are available (and inexpensive) in bars and bakeries in most towns.
• I brought 2 short-sleeve polyester jerseys and 2 pairs of shorts with me; washing that day's set every night in the hotel sink with a squirt of liquid detergent. Jerseys dry in a few hours. Shorts take a little longer, but were always ready for the ride 2 days later. Thin polyester cycling socks also dry very quickly. Add arm and knee or leg warmers for cooler days and a rain jacket for the worst weather.
• If you take a lot of photos with a digital camera, bring an extra battery. My battery doesn't last long when I'm using the flash. Italy uses 220V electricity with a standard Euro-style 2-round-prong outlet. Most battery chargers can handle this without a transformer if you have the right plug converter. I charged both my camera batteries every night.
• Also think about how many memory cards (or rolls of film) you will need. Prices in Europe are mostly full retail price (no tourist price gouging like in the USA), but US discount stores will have significantly better prices.
• In Italy, ATM machines are called "Bancomat". These were easy to find in the airports and in most of the towns. Some towns had dozens of them. Ask your bank about foreign ATM fees. My bank gave me free withdrawls at partner Italian bank ATMs, but charged $5 at others.
• Italy has 2 separate mail systems: standard and priority. Priority is a lot faster and more reliable. Priority postcard stamps (to the USA) are 80 Euro cents each and available at tobacco shops (look for the "T" signs).
• There are a lot of different tourist guidebooks available for Florence and Tuscany. Our VBT guides gave us a preview of the sights along the route at breakfast, but studying the guidebook beforehand will also be valuable, especially if you have special interests.
• Our guides provided us with detailed maps and route sheets. The directions have accurate kilometer distances for all the turns, but the VBT bicycles do not have odometers. I brought my own and was glad that I did (standard 26mm handlebar mount). If you're bad with directions, you can try just follow the guide (one is cycling with the group every day), but the group tends to spread out a lot during the day and some days have more than one route, so following the guide may not be practical.

After the bike tour, I spent 3 days in Florence before flying home. For some photos of Florence, click on the link.

For more bike trip reports, please click on the link.

Please let me know if you decide to go on this tour because you found this web site. I'm curious about who reads this. Also, let VBT that you heard about them from me. Thanks.