generally wonderful even though you
encounter harmless cracks in the
surfaces due to weather extremes. I
especially love south west Tuscany
which is quite sparsely populated,
but with lots of friendly villages with
cafes for a quiet café (coffee) and
ristorantes (restaurants) in virtually
every village catering for the local
workers who eat out most days in
their three hour break for lunch.
This food is local, delicious and
cheap. Lots of these villages are
off the beaten, well known tourist
tracks and are always friendly and
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the advantage of riding a motorcycle
in Italy – you can really get away to
enjoy the local culture without all
the tourist trappings. The best time
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standout tourist places are Florence,
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but there are heaps of small villages
you have never heard of which are
equally stunning, but with very few
or no tourists. I also take my guests
by ferry to the wonderful Tuscan
island of Elba, which happens to
have one of the best biking roads in
Europe, about 70 metres above the
azure Mediterranean. In Tuscany,
we always base ourselves in a small
hilltop village, so we don’t have any
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few deer in the Tuscan hills
and once in Elba I saw the
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horns across their backs) standing
right in front of me on a quiet
mountain road.
A fantastic biking location is the
amazing Dolomites, in north eastern
Italy. These mountains are steep
monoliths rising abruptly from
the beautiful valleys, so rugged
that much of the Dolomites is not
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to get to the top. We usually ride to
the Dolomites from Mandello de
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Moto Guzzi factory before we leave.
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through a beautiful national park in
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Italian border. Most people do the
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but as long as you take it quietly, it is
an amazing ride, one you will never
forget. There are heaps of passes
in the Dolomites to go over, some
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These are absolute musts if you
are going to do the Dolomites. But
there are many others. One of my
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often encountered snow on thispass, but the road is always clear
and a good surface. You can ride for
days and days in the Dolomites and
never go on the same road. There
are thousands of twisties, so many
you just can’t believe people would
build roads in places like this! It is
a good idea to base yourself in one
of the beautiful skiing villages like
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day rides from there. You don’t really
want to weigh your bike down with
luggage when such fantastic twisty
roads are on offer. I can guarantee
that your cornering prowess will
improve enormously after riding the
Dolomites for a week or so – you
will negotiate literally thousands of
corners, including more hairpins
than you can ever imagine.
Another favourite riding location
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Alps. They span the French border
from Nice on the Mediterranean
northwards to Mont Blanc and into
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gorges, the highest road pass in
Europe, near the Italian border,
the awe inspiring Mont Blanc (the
highest mountain in Europe, the
amazing Matterhorn and wonderful
pristine picture book villages and
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