Would you like to ride a bike across Italy?
Update: You can still read the details below, but here’s the latest: The next via Appia bike tour is scheduled for the summer of 2013. It will take about 2 weeks and you should budget around 1000-2000 euros. I’m writing a book about touring the Appian Way and you can get a download of the final draft by sending an email or leaving a comment on one of the excepts, which I’m posting here.
In 2005 I fulfilled a dream of retracing the ancient Roman road, the Via Appia, on a bicycle. Now I’m making it an annual event, and looking for people to come along.
You haven’t really experienced Italy until you’ve done an Italy bicycle tour. You’ll visit remote, tourist-free villages in the mountains, make friends with fascinating people, and enjoy some of the best food and drink ever created on planet earth.
And you don’t have to be a super athlete to complete an Italy cycling tour.
Fourteen years ago, a friend dared me to ride a bike 1,200 miles over the Rocky Mountains to a summer job in Idaho. I bought a ten speed for five dollars at a thrift store, learned to fix it, and made the trip. I was out of shape, untrained, and didn’t really know what I was doing. But after 3 weeks, I was hooked.
Bicycling Italy’s ancient Appian Way is a lot easier. You’ll go through fields of wildflowers and olive groves planted on gentle rolling hills. Explore old Medieval fortresses and Roman ruins, which are often forgotten along the road side.
The only real challenge will be a day or two crossing the Apennine mountains. But you’ll be rewarded with views that most Italy travelers never see, not to mention hand-made gelato.
I lived in Italy from 1997 to 2001, and worked there as a tour guide for two seasons. I speak fluent Italian, and have made several bike trips all over Italy.
This blog is dedicated to using a bike as a means of transport, but I’m especially trying to recruit fellow riders interested in bicycling in Italy. If you’re an experienced biker or familiar with Italy, this will be a fun and easy trip. If you’re new to both, get ready for a life-changing adventure!
Update: The next via Appia bike tour is scheduled for the summer of 2013. It will take about 2 weeks and you should budget around 1000-2000 euros. I’m writing a book about touring the Appian Way and you can get a download of the final draft by sending an email or leaving a comment on one of the excepts, which I’m posting here.
[...] Would you like to ride a bike across Italy? [...]
Came across your article on biking the Appian way. Looking to use my road bike from Rome to Brindisi. Can it be done.
Ethan
Ethan,I’m sorry I took so long to get back to you on this. It can totally be done! Most of the Via Appia has been paved over and it’s used as a modern road. There are a lot of parks and areas where you can follow the original roadbed with the same basalt stones that the ancient Romans put down. These parts are tough to cross on a road bike, but it’s worth at least going on a hike through these parts of the Appian Way. Coming out of Rome, there’s a 10 mile stretch of the via Appia that’s all original road. This makes a good bike ride if you’re not loaded down too much, or you can avoid it by riding on the Via Appia Nuova which runs parallel. I prefer the ancient Roman road, even though I’ve broken a few spokes along the way. Your call. If you really want an easy ride that follows the route of via Appia most of the time, just take the modern Italian highway SS7.
We’ve been looking over your posts and really enjoy it. thank you for the awesome reads! do you ever do any biking ?
Surely you jest!
Hi, Jacob!
My husband and I would like to bike throughout Europe, and especially Italy. Let me know if you are planning a trip for 2011.
Best!
~Heidi
Greetings from Rome,
I would like to know what your plans are for next year and whether your still keen on pursuing your dream to lead cycling expeditions?
I can help with the organisation of bicycles, packs, accomodation en-route and any thing else.
Let me know
Glenn