Overview

I have visited Northern Italy by auto and cycled across Italy east-to-west, through Tuscany/Umbria in 2019, starting and ending in Rome. (Blog: https://lnewman1107italy2019.blogspot.com/ ). I have yet to venture south of Rome. 

We plan to cycle on paved roads, 11 days riding, carrying our gear, staying in small hotels listed on booking.com, and sampling the local cuisine. 

Weather

Southern Italy in summer is hot and dry, but October typically has some precipitation 1/3 of the days, with temperatures in the 50-80F range. I’ve packed full rain gear, just in case.

Riders

We are 2, 76-year old veteran cyclists. This will be my 4th tour with John H. John is taking his S and S coupled bike and will use panniers to carry his gear. (An S and S Coupling also known as a Bicycle Torque Coupling or BTC is a coupling which enables bicycle frames to be separated into smaller parts). 

I will ride my 1994 Bike Friday Pocket Rocket folding bike with 20” wheels. The 30” Samsonite bike case is checked as “standard luggage” under 50#, and the case is converted to a bike trailer to carry my gear.

Itinerary

Oct 1 Depart SLO 4:00 PM

Oct 2 Arrival Brindisi 7:35 PM Taxi to local lodging

Oct 3 Brindisi – Lecce                 27 miles

        Assemble Bikes, Ship John’s Case Bike to Lecce 

Oct 4 Lecce - Mesange – Ostuni          48 miles (75)

Oct 5 Ostuni  - Locorotondo - Alberbello – Putigano 44 miles (119)

Oct 6 Putigano – Gioia del Colle - Matera 36 miles (155)

Oct 7 Matera – Gravina – San Gervasio         45 miles (200)

Oct 8: San Gervasio – Rapolla - Melfi - Candela – 45 miles (245)

Oct 9: Candela – Benevento                 45 miles (290)

Oct 10:         Benevento – Telese Terme – Alife         44 miles (334)

Oct 11:         Alife – Cassino – Arce                 53 miles (387)

Oct 12:         Arce – Valmontone                 46 miles (433)

Oct 13:         Valmontone – Rome 298.         45 miles (478)

Oct 14 & 15: Relax; Local rides; Pack Bikes

Oct 16:         Trains to Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (FCO) 

        3:40 PM Depature to SFO

Day 16 10:14 PM SLO County Airport (SBP) 

Planned Cycling Itinerary: Routes were created in Google Maps cycling mode, but often shorter “car” routes with fewer climbs are available. All Italian roads except “A” roads permit bikes, and Street View shows that the surfaces are often better. Most stopover towns seem to offer reasonable lodging options on booking.com. Rather than fly to Rome and then train south to the start, we are flying directly to Brindisi and avoiding a day of train travel. 

Packing

I have a standard packing list that I modify for each tour. One change of casual clothing is sufficient for the plane and evenings. Two changes of bike clothing are adequate for cycling, and then hand-washed each evening. We will use Organic Maps (easy to use off-line) and Google Maps for navigation by our phones. I usually purchase an eSim for local web access but recently switched to T-Mobile which touts free international roaming. John will use an eSim. We each carry an auxiliary battery to recharge as needed. I carry a 12” Mac AirBook for blogging. 

Yes, I also obsess over what to bring and then remind myself that stores exist everywhere. The most difficult item to find would be a replacement 20” tire and tubes, so I pack a spare tire, 3 tubes, patch kit, and spare tube for the 12” bike trailer wheels. 

Packed Bike Friday. The small wheel, (top-right), is a trailer wheel. All other gear goes in a duffle/backpack carry-on. I fold and pack all clothing in gallon ZipLock bags, essentially mini, see-through, compression bags.

Dog of the Day. As usual, Lily is the opening featured Dog of the Day. Her anxiety seems to be sparked when she sees my orange bike case and red duffle being packed. Life with a sensitive poodle.