Tour of north central Italy--Info required.

[Ronnie-d]

Hey all!
Has anyone toured by M-bike in this portion of Italy ?   I would love to take a week, rent a bike and town/village hop to sample some local food and drink. At the end of each days ride of course.  Still too early ( salt and sand !! ) to get my 'Italian Mistress' out on the road
Mainly concerned about the weather and crowds around that area in May. May even visit the Duc factory?
I have put off this proposed trip for toooo long !!!  68 yrs young so best do it sooner than later
Open to suggestions  ?

[geoffduc]

Hi Ronnie why not go to Italy the second week of june so as you can not only go to the factory but also take in WDW at misano plus the previous weekend theres a motoGP at mugello which is in tuscany and to watch Rossi at his home GP to my mind is a must.
Hope this helps,  Geoff.

[mitt]

Do a search, a lot of threads have been dedicated to trips around Northern Italy.

mitt

[Ronnie-d]

Wow!  Moto GP and Rossi ! Now that sounds great  !  Will give it some serious thought.
Crowds ?    Oh yes !
Still researching the trip,  Thanks much for the tips

[giordy]

May should be a good time to go: not too many tourists around yet, and the weather is nice and not too warm.
In addition to what others mentioned, I would suggest the following:
- Dolomites in the Veneto region (north west of Venice)
- Lakes region (especially Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano, north of Milan, by the border with Switzerland)
- Southern Piemonte region - similar to Tuscany but with fewer tourists; the food is also great, though less well known than Tuscan food

Giordy

[Jetbrett]

Have fun on the trip when you go.  My wife and I are renting bikes in England and then riding to northern Italy for our 20th anniversary.     [moto]

[Raux]

Definitely. ... now where did i but that WDW thread... oh yeah here it is
http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=32749.0

Geoff is my chaperone

I did the tour from germany through austria to italy last year with the wife. It's a must to take the bike to its homeland!

I think there is a Ducati tours place in Vicenza. But i would schedule early if you're thinking of WDW.

[Jumptship]

Spent a total of 10 years in Northern Italy stationed at Aviano (USAF).  GREAT fun in the Dolomites, other must see/do/rides are Lago di Resia (IZ can confirm this is a great place and some excellent riding) and Grossglockner in Austria.  Grossglockner is a motorcyclist heaven with EXCELLENT roads and more switchbacks than you can count.  PM me if you want more details or have specific questions.

[The Bacon Junkie]

Seravezza, in Tuscany.  Is where my family is from.

It's sidewalks are paved in marble from the quarry just outside of town.

Up in the mountains... nice twisty roads.   

Have a nice trip!    [moto]

[IZ]

go to Italy the second week of june so as you can not only go to the factory but also take in WDW at misano plus the previous weekend theres a motoGP at mugello

Here's your itinerary for that week. 

-Thursday..arrive in Milan and take train to pick up bike (are you renting from the factory?)
-Friday..get bike in morning and make your way to Florence.
-Fri/Sat..check out the city, i.e.: the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio, etc.   
-Sunday..Mugello is close to Florence for the MotoGP. Get there early and don't expect to move fast trying to get out! Actually, you'll be on a bike so it shouldn't be too bad.  The whole weekend is a madhouse! Try to get tickets to sit in the Ducati section.
-Ride up to Bologna after the race (it's not far) and stay in B&B.
-Monday..check out the factory and the city.  Stay over night or start riding up north. 
-Tues/Wed/Thurs..ride around the Trento Adige region.  Several towns/villages and sites to see, i.e.: The Dolomites, Bolzano, Merano, Lake Garda, Lake Como, etc.
Thurs/Fri..ride to Misano for the WDW! 

[geoffduc]

Thanks IZ for your ideas but heres whats planned, leave the UK thursday and travel down to the swiss border for first nights B&B, friday get down to our farm house B&B which is afew kms from the curcuit, saturday and sunday at the motogp. Monday and tuesday spend time on the passes that run between florence and bologna and a visit to the factory,
wednesday travel to misano again via a pass and then meet up with Raux,Stopintime and the rest of the guys who are staying with us at the B&B, the following tuesday leave misano and travel up to Stresa for a couple of days of riding round the lake area and then back to Metz for the last nights B&B followed by a long run back to the channel tunnel and then back to the UK and home.
We are taking three bikes in two vans and a load of luggage for our friends who are riding to misano, I wish that I was younger and fitter as it would be great to ride there, I'm taking the retard as its easy to handle, Capo is taking his S4R and DUC900S is taking a 900ss, theres a gang of friends all on ducati's who are leaving on the weekend of the motogp and taking a leisurely route arriving at misano on friday and leaving for home on the following monday, again taking thier time to get back to the UK.

cheers,  Geoff