Italy and Italians

http://www.maratona.it/en/

Thanks guys, these look good.

Hi guys, heading to Italy next month on a trip. We've got a few days in Lake Como, then heading up to Corvara in the Dolomites. Struggling with the last place. Ideally, we're after somewhere not more than 4 hours away (driving) and not just a massive city. Was thinking possible Parma or Bergamo? Any other recommendations? Thanks.

They are both worth a visit, depends how many days you have in the last place? Bologna might be another possibility, it claims (like about a thousand other places) to be the food capital of Italy. But there's loads to see and the food is pretty damn good (but that's true for most of Italy).

If you head south, you could get to Bassano del Grappa, Marostica, Asolo, Valdobbiadene (Prosecco's land), and/or Vittorio Veneto.
They're all pretty close together (all in Veneto but next to Trentino's borders), not busy, but extremely beautiful and historical.

PS: this Wednesday watch the finish of Giro's stage in Asolo, it will give you an idea.

If you are doing a lake and then some mountains then why not complete the set and do a city too? Verona would fit your itinerary; not been myself but it looks nice. Marostica is around that way too - smaller than Verona but still historical:

http://www.chesssetsproject.com/ratings/handmade/human-chess-game-marostica-italy/

I have heard good things about Bologna. Florence, which is probably a bit too far in this instance, is lovely.

@jakemcree

ffs Valdobbiadene, if you bump into the Chief of Police, tell him you don't know @Bernie from this forum ;-) great cycling terrain among the 175 prosecco vineyards, alot of strada bianci roads and lumpy hills, local gargle is good and cheap.

You have to visit Venice at least once in your lifetime, take the train to the Grand Canale (Santa Lucia) it'll be packed but there is loads to see away from the main sights, all within walking distance. Some incredible artisans working with glass and gold leaf.

Verona and Vicenza both great citehs.. if you like architecture, Palladio Villa Rotonda and Teatro Olympicio are a treat.

Food wise you can't go wrong, eating seasonal and locally sourced food. The Italians import nothing and produce enough to export worldwide.

If you're in that area a visit to a parmigiano factory is well worth it if you like the cheese. I have happy memeories of eating fist sized chunks of parmigiano in the sun at 8am...... drools

Pasta, lamborginis, aaaaand I think that's it

Pasta, Lamborghinis, and...Silvio Berlusconis.

Oh yeah forgot that one. Vive le Italia!

Thank you all very much. Valdobbiadene and Vittorio Veneto look really nice. Much appreciated :)

Prosecco Gran Fondo 2012, Valdo..
http://microcosm.app/out/34WJd

Cycling culture in small towns in Veneto is amazing. Apart from the Sunday riders in the hills there is an everyday cycling culture of people of all ages more akin to Dutch Danish style without their cycling arrogance perhaps.

Here are some pics from Este nr Padova from last night

https://1drv.ms/a/s!AvToV94eG8xJnPBKRS2L1Y3LC0PQ-w

3 Attachments

Just don't frolic in the fountains in Rome
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/12/outrage-as-swimsuit-clad-women-cool-off-in-17th-century-rome-fou/

I moved to Italy a couple of months ago. Parma centre is quite nice and the food is good but the countryside is as dull and flat is it gets.

Some friends of mine did Milan to Verona a couple of weeks ago via Como and Garda and loved it.

Fookin hot here now for riding though. It's been 35+ Here in Florence for the last few weeks.

Just go up on the hills and you'll have second thoughts about flat and dull. Sure you probably need 25km just to reach them, but then again in London you need 25km to get out of the M25.

I bet it's hot (and humid) now, get up early and ride in the AM

Thanks

Anyone got experience of travelling with a bike on trains in Italy? Heading from Milan to Como in May by rail. I have a Thule bike box which is pretty massive (137 x 39.3 x 94 cm) - do I need to book a ticket for the box or are they OK?

Have searched online but finding contradicting reports

@fausto will know...

When we trained it across Italy last year (Marseille - Milan - Padova) we used hire bikes in each town and borrowed bikes for riding the countryside. It seemed too complicated to bother bringing our own

I've done it without any bother, but it was ten years ago so the regulations might have changed.

Check seat61 web site they had good info on info and were quick to answer questions by email.

http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom/Offerte-e-servizi/In-treno-con-la-bici

According to the main railway company (national company) it depends which train you want to take. If you are doing Milan to Como, you'll probably end up taking a "Regionale" regional train, on which you can buy a bike reservation, and have the bike stored away in a specific car, fully assembled. I'd recommend staying within eyesight and/or locking it, as the car is accessible to other people.
If you want to take it as a box there are some limitations on size, see website above, but as long as you place it in a way that it doesn't obstruct people, I doubt anyone will come measure it, it's Italy after all..

Best option imho, ride from Milan to Como, May is a beautiful month to do that.

When we travelled back from Nice to Turin on the train we ended up taking two Regionale trains from Ventimiglia to Turin (Nice to Ventimiglia was on a French train). The first was very much a British type affair with an allocated area near some doors. All well and good, no reservation available or asked for by the conductor. The second train was different. We arrived a bit before we set off and asked for a bike compartment. We spoke next to no Italian and the conductor offered no English. Much excited exclamation on his part along with wild waving of hands as he beckoned, cajoled and helped us wrangle two fully bikepacking laden 29ers into the stairwell of the end carriage. After we set of, he inspected our tickets which were clearly not up to muster. He showed us several pages of policy on his ipad as he expressed some form of schoolmasterly disappointment which we couldn't really interpret. Finally he issued what appeared to be a fine of 6 Euros. As we disembarked in Turin he loudly berated several passengers who weren't standing aside to let us disembark quickly and then bade us an amicable farewell. At least it seemed that way, we still didn't have a clue what he said.

tl,dr: our experience of bikes on trains in Italy was comparatively much better than in the UK.

am going to Italy on monday and staying in castellina in chianti.

I'm taking the road bike and have been planning some routes. Any small roads look like this:

For the most part I will stick to bigger, tarmac road however sometimes it would be nice to cut 5-10 miles off a route going via some of these smaller gravel roads for a mile or two. Do you think I'd be ok on 25mm continental all seasons?