Considering Road Cycling in Italy - Need Help
01-05-19, 10:52 AM
#26
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Thanks for the tips. Appreciated.
No decisions but leaning towards Florence. Wife is 100% non cyclist. She is an oil painter so I imagine she can find nice landscapes to paint if she runs out of culture. Also one of my bike club friends is from there and he can probably give me some good routes. We may aim for September so maybe the summer crowds won’t be an issue.
No decisions but leaning towards Florence. Wife is 100% non cyclist. She is an oil painter so I imagine she can find nice landscapes to paint if she runs out of culture. Also one of my bike club friends is from there and he can probably give me some good routes. We may aim for September so maybe the summer crowds won’t be an issue.
01-05-19, 11:27 AM
#27
Pizzaiolo Americano
Thanks for the tips. Appreciated.
No decisions but leaning towards Florence. Wife is 100% non cyclist. She is an oil painter so I imagine she can find nice landscapes to paint if she runs out of culture. Also one of my bike club friends is from there and he can probably give me some good routes. We may aim for September so maybe the summer crowds won’t be an issue.
No decisions but leaning towards Florence. Wife is 100% non cyclist. She is an oil painter so I imagine she can find nice landscapes to paint if she runs out of culture. Also one of my bike club friends is from there and he can probably give me some good routes. We may aim for September so maybe the summer crowds won’t be an issue.
01-05-19, 11:55 AM
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01-06-19, 02:18 AM
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Honestly not much of a language barrier in any of the more populated areas...We are Americans. I have lived here a few times and speak pretty fluently but, this is my wife’s first stint here and she speaks no Italian. She gets along fine. Almost everyone in the popular areas of Europe speaks English.
01-07-19, 10:14 AM
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Very little language barrier in the 2 recent trips to Tuscany, Umbria and Rome. English is the universal language of Europe at this point.
01-07-19, 12:17 PM
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01-07-19, 12:24 PM
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There's quite a network of bike trails and MUP over most of Italy. For instance, you can ride from the Venice airport to Vicenza (55 miles) and only spend a few miles on streets. You can also cycle from Munich to Venice almost exclusively on cycling paths.
I can't post the links (new user) but if you do an internet search for "italy cycling guide", it should lead you to a great resource. Another search term is "tutto berici cycling", lists many cycling routes.
I can't post the links (new user) but if you do an internet search for "italy cycling guide", it should lead you to a great resource. Another search term is "tutto berici cycling", lists many cycling routes.
Many of the back roads, in particular in the Parma/Reggio Emilio area were fine for cycling. But you mention Venice. Somehow I ended up on a bypass road near Venice. Wow, that was WILD!!!
01-07-19, 12:32 PM
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Thanks for the tips. Appreciated.
No decisions but leaning towards Florence. Wife is 100% non cyclist. She is an oil painter so I imagine she can find nice landscapes to paint if she runs out of culture. Also one of my bike club friends is from there and he can probably give me some good routes. We may aim for September so maybe the summer crowds won’t be an issue.
No decisions but leaning towards Florence. Wife is 100% non cyclist. She is an oil painter so I imagine she can find nice landscapes to paint if she runs out of culture. Also one of my bike club friends is from there and he can probably give me some good routes. We may aim for September so maybe the summer crowds won’t be an issue.
Are there bike rentals in Italy?
Some of the small towns can be unique too. I spent a day in Assisi. What a unique little town. Giotto was the important painter there. I think he came in a transitional period just prior to Leonardo and Michelangelo. So, if I remember right, the beginnings of 3-D perspective in painting, but not the true depth to the paintings that came later.
01-07-19, 12:35 PM
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Oh, as far as English vs Italian vs Spanish.
In the big touristy places, English will be just fine. At least 30 years ago... WHEW!!! Italian was important if you got off the beaten track.
Consider taking an Italian course at the local community college. There are summer "Crash Courses", generally in the summer. But, if your wife has a strong Spanish background, she might even be able to jump directly into second term, first year Italian.
In the big touristy places, English will be just fine. At least 30 years ago... WHEW!!! Italian was important if you got off the beaten track.
Consider taking an Italian course at the local community college. There are summer "Crash Courses", generally in the summer. But, if your wife has a strong Spanish background, she might even be able to jump directly into second term, first year Italian.
01-09-19, 08:15 AM
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01-10-19, 03:24 PM
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When is the best time to climb/ride around Finestre during the summer?
Last edited by rower2cyclist; 01-10-19 at 03:35 PM.
01-11-19, 04:46 AM
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I like Milan. My wife loves the shopping, the history, and the architecture. It's safer and less congested than Rome. If we have time, I spend a few days riding a large loop which takes me to Turin, then to the coast to Savona, then down the coast to Genoa, then back. If I have more time, I'll push the loop into France, and head down to Cannes or Nice, and then along the coast back to Genoa.
01-11-19, 08:43 AM
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Honestly not much of a language barrier in any of the more populated areas...We are Americans. I have lived here a few times and speak pretty fluently but, this is my wife’s first stint here and she speaks no Italian. She gets along fine. Almost everyone in the popular areas of Europe speaks English.
I did once miss a local train in the Italian boonies as a 20 year old, and had quite the struggle trying to communicate in semi-fluent Spanish to a station attendant, but I managed to get home alive.
01-11-19, 08:52 AM
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Heh. One day, when I was bike touring in the touristy coast area of southern Spain, I was shopping in a grocery store. I tried to speak to a clerk in Spanish, which I was somewhat competent in. She would only speak English to me. The place was full of tourists from the north (e.g., Germany and Holland). Guess English was the "universal language" down there.
01-11-19, 11:34 AM
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Heh. One day, when I was bike touring in the touristy coast area of southern Spain, I was shopping in a grocery store. I tried to speak to a clerk in Spanish, which I was somewhat competent in. She would only speak English to me. The place was full of tourists from the north (e.g., Germany and Holland). Guess English was the "universal language" down there.
01-11-19, 11:39 AM
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Heh. One day, when I was bike touring in the touristy coast area of southern Spain, I was shopping in a grocery store. I tried to speak to a clerk in Spanish, which I was somewhat competent in. She would only speak English to me. The place was full of tourists from the north (e.g., Germany and Holland). Guess English was the "universal language" down there.
01-11-19, 12:15 PM
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Si. It was funny because I had been riding in a lot of out of the way places where no one spoke English. I did spend two nights in a town where I met a bar tender who spoke English because she had studied it in London. She told me about all the Spanish she heard when her class took a trip to NYC. The campground receptionist in Cordoba was also a student who spoke decent English.
One day I pulled into the town of Velez-Blanco dead tired from a long day with a stretch of serious headwind. I plopped down on a park bench and looked up a hostel in my guide book. A kid came riding up to me and said "Cannondale." I was riding a Cannondale T700. He was riding a Cannondale MTB. I asked him (in Spanish) where to hostel was. He looked at me like I was daft and then pointed across the street. I was literally sitting right across a small street from it. I was so spent I didn't notice. Turns out the kid's family owned the place.
One day I pulled into the town of Velez-Blanco dead tired from a long day with a stretch of serious headwind. I plopped down on a park bench and looked up a hostel in my guide book. A kid came riding up to me and said "Cannondale." I was riding a Cannondale T700. He was riding a Cannondale MTB. I asked him (in Spanish) where to hostel was. He looked at me like I was daft and then pointed across the street. I was literally sitting right across a small street from it. I was so spent I didn't notice. Turns out the kid's family owned the place.
01-11-19, 12:54 PM
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Si. It was funny because I had been riding in a lot of out of the way places where no one spoke English. I did spend two nights in a town where I met a bar tender who spoke English because she had studied it in London. She told me about all the Spanish she heard when her class took a trip to NYC. The campground receptionist in Cordoba was also a student who spoke decent English.
One day I pulled into the town of Velez-Blanco dead tired from a long day with a stretch of serious headwind. I plopped down on a park bench and looked up a hostel in my guide book. A kid came riding up to me and said "Cannondale." I was riding a Cannondale T700. He was riding a Cannondale MTB. I asked him (in Spanish) where to hostel was. He looked at me like I was daft and then pointed across the street. I was literally sitting right across a small street from it. I was so spent I didn't notice. Turns out the kid's family owned the place.
One day I pulled into the town of Velez-Blanco dead tired from a long day with a stretch of serious headwind. I plopped down on a park bench and looked up a hostel in my guide book. A kid came riding up to me and said "Cannondale." I was riding a Cannondale T700. He was riding a Cannondale MTB. I asked him (in Spanish) where to hostel was. He looked at me like I was daft and then pointed across the street. I was literally sitting right across a small street from it. I was so spent I didn't notice. Turns out the kid's family owned the place.
