Motorcycle Tours in Italy
The Dolomites for the passes. Tuscany for everything else.
Two Italys, four hundred kilometres apart. In the north, the Stelvio's forty-eight hairpins and the Sella Ronda's four passes, built for an Austrian emperor and fought over in a world war. In the middle, the Chiantigiana from Florence to Siena and the cypress road through the Val d'Orcia. Gentleman Biker rides both.
How long should a motorcycle tour in Italy be?
A week does the Dolomites properly: the Sella Ronda's four passes are a single sixty-kilometre day, the Stelvio and the Gavia are another, and the Great Dolomites Road from Bolzano to Cortina is a third. A week does Tuscany at the pace Tuscany deserves, which is slow. Two weeks does both. Anything shorter than a week is a long weekend with a flight on each end.
How much does a motorcycle tour in Italy cost?
The price of an Italy tour is set by the number of riding days, the class of hotel each night, the motorcycle, whether a support vehicle and crew travel with the group, and how many meals the itinerary includes. Italian hotels in the Dolomites and Tuscany span a wide range, and the hotel is usually the biggest single line. Gentleman Biker's figure is published with the first Italy departures.
Can I do an Italy motorcycle tour without bringing my own bike?
Yes. On a Gentleman Biker tour the Harley-Davidson is part of the price, waiting at the first hotel with the route loaded. Riders fly in with a helmet. For an American rider that is the only practical way to ride Italy at all; shipping a motorcycle across the Atlantic for a fortnight costs more than the tour and takes longer than the flight.
The Italian tours
Two tours, and most riders end up wanting both.
The Dolomites is the mountain tour: Stelvio, Gavia, Giau, Pordoi, Sella, Gardena, the villages at the bottom of each pass, and the trenches of a world war still cut into the rock above them. Tuscany is the other one: hill towns, cypress avenues planted in the fifteenth century as a deliberate view, Brunello, and a steak measured in fingers.
Italy fines motorcycles for riding into the wrong street.
Every old town centre has a Zona a Traffico Limitato, a camera at each entrance, and a fine of eighty to a hundred euros for each camera passed, posted to the rider's home address months later. It applies to motorcycles. Florence's covers most of the historic centre on weekdays; Siena's is the entire walled city, always. On a guided tour the leader knows where the gates are and the hotels register the plates.
The evening is the other half of an Italian tour.
In South Tyrol it is speck and canederli, bread dumplings in broth, eaten in a mountain hut at the top of a pass with three languages on the menu. In Tuscany it is bistecca alla fiorentina, a bone-in steak from Chianina cattle cut four to six centimetres thick and sold by weight, with pici, the hand-rolled pasta of Siena, and a Brunello from Montalcino that has been made by one family since 1888.
What riders ask about Italy.
Whether the mountains and Tuscany fit in one trip, whether the language matters, and what the ZTL signs mean. Three short answers.
Can I ride the Dolomites and Tuscany on the same trip?
Yes, with enough days. The two are about four hundred kilometres apart by the fast road, and the itinerary for each departure says whether it joins them. Most riders who want both plan on two weeks.
Do I need to speak Italian?
No. English is spoken in the hotels and the tour leader handles the rest. In South Tyrol the second language is German and the road signs come in two or three languages.
What is a ZTL and does it apply to motorcycles?
A Zona a Traffico Limitato is a camera-enforced no-entry zone in the centre of nearly every Italian town, and yes, it applies to motorcycles. Each gate crossed is a separate fine, around eighty to a hundred euros, posted months later. Florence’s covers most of the old city on weekdays; Siena’s is the whole walled town, all the time. A hotel inside a zone can register a plate in advance.
The other rides, and the experience.
Patagonia, Northern Thailand, the Dolomites, and Tuscany, each with its own page, and the page on the days, the hotels, the meals, and the motorcycle.
- Patagonia motorcycle tour
Bariloche to Ushuaia, with the Andes on the right the whole way.
- Northern Thailand motorcycle tour
The Mae Hong Son Loop, and Bangkok when the riding is done.
- Dolomites motorcycle tour
The Stelvio, the Gavia, the Sella Ronda, and the hotels at the bottom of each.
- Tuscany motorcycle tour
Chianti, the Val d’Orcia, and dinners that run late.
- The experience
The days, the hotels, the meals, and the motorcycle.
- Motorcycle tours in Thailand
The north, the season, and Bangkok.
Join the interest list.
Argentina, Thailand, or Italy. Say which.