Cycle/Camping in Italy 2007

Pinky said:

Can anyone give me advice on two subject with regard to my next years
holiday that I am planning in Italy next year.

It is my intention to do a 5 week circular tour, covering about 2000 kms,
starting in Venice down the Italian Adriatic coast then crossing the
Apennines to Rome then cycling up to Florence and Pisa before returning to
Venice to pick up the Euro Bike Express coach home.

So --
1. Is there a suitable map coverage showing cyclable routes . What scale
should I go for?

I found the 1:250 000 TCI (Touring Club Italiano) maps of the various
regions to be more than adequate when I cycled around Tuscany and a bit
of Umbria last May. Order them direct from www.touringclub.it if you
can't find them locally. Joining TCI gets you a discount on maps ordered
from their website, many campgrounds, and some museums.

Litografia Artistica Cartografica publishes very nice 1:150 000 maps of
the individual provinces on waterproof paper, www.lac-cartografia.it.
Nice maps, but I found myself going back to the TCI maps. Others may
prefer the smaller scale of these maps, though.

Quoted message said:

2. Is there a publication of Italian camp sites at all. I have already
started researching on net but it gets clogged up with big camping cartels
catering for family permanent holidays.

I got the best results by googling for campsites in the town I wanted to
overnight in, using the name of the town and the word "camping" as
search terms. Some small campgrounds aren't on the big camping cartel's
listings, but have rudimentary websites of their own. Local tourist
offices will have listings of agricampeggios if there are any around.
These can be very pleasant.

Avoid "Camping Michelangelo" in Florence. Clean, well situated and
well-managed, but VERY crowded, and sheer weight of numbers guarantees
that the place will never be quiet. The location next to a busy road
doesn't help either.

The "Villa Camerata" HI hostel is a beautiful old villa on the outskirts
of Florence, very quiet and (IMO) very good value as accommodation. Book
well in advance, Florence is packed with tourists most of the year. The
Villa Camerata also has a campground on the grounds.

Are you still planning on visiting the US one of these years?
mark

Trevor have a look at these tours in Italy. May yield some good
dadvice.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/journal/locales/?geoname_id=106

mark said:

Quoted message said:

1. Is there a suitable map coverage showing cyclable routes . What
scale should I go for?

I found the 1:250 000 TCI (Touring Club Italiano) maps of the various
regions to be more than adequate when I cycled around Tuscany and a bit
of Umbria last May.

Those are the ones I mostly used when I lived in Italy. But you should
be aware that they are *very* inferior to the equivalent UK OS maps.
As are the roads in many areas.

Quoted message said:

I got the best results by googling for campsites in the town I wanted to
overnight in, using the name of the town and the word "camping" as
search terms. Some small campgrounds aren't on the big camping cartel's
listings, but have rudimentary websites of their own. Local tourist
offices will have listings of agricampeggios if there are any around.
These can be very pleasant.

Italians tend to be easygoing about where you camp, and every village
has a "fontana", which is not a fountain[1] but rather a freely
available source of drinking water.

[1] OK, it can be *also* a fountain:-)

--
not me guv

"mark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
..<snip><snip>

Quoted message said:

The "Villa Camerata" HI hostel is a beautiful old villa on the outskirts
of Florence, very quiet and (IMO) very good value as accommodation. Book
well in advance, Florence is packed with tourists most of the year. The
Villa Camerata also has a campground on the grounds.

Are you still planning on visiting the US one of these years?
mark

Mark
USA C2C has probably gone down the drain -- due to cost mainly -- coupled
together with years galloping by much too fast!
I should dearly love to do a very long C2C USA and take about 4 or 5 months
so that I can visit all the places I want to see. BUT I suspect it will
never happen -- that saddens me a lot but it is just another of those things
I am never going to do/ I am never going to see.

I should love to spend several months in China -- also in South America --
but it will never happen. Give me 10 years of my life back and I would do
it!

So I shall "blood" my new Trice Q NT on a vigorous training session over
winter and then enjoy my first long tour round Italy.

Thanks for the advice and info

Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom.
www.tapan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

Pinky said:

USA C2C has probably gone down the drain -- due to cost mainly -- coupled
together with years galloping by much too fast!
I should dearly love to do a very long C2C USA and take about 4 or 5 months
so that I can visit all the places I want to see. BUT I suspect it will
never happen -- that saddens me a lot but it is just another of those things
I am never going to do/ I am never going to see.

I should love to spend several months in China -- also in South America --
but it will never happen. Give me 10 years of my life back and I would do
it!

So I shall "blood" my new Trice Q NT on a vigorous training session over
winter and then enjoy my first long tour round Italy.

Thanks for the advice and info

Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom.
www.tapan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

Sorry you won't be coming to the US, we need more cyclists over here.
Your Italy tour sounds good, though. I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 weeks in
Tuscany & Umbria, and am laying plans for a longer tour in 2008. I'd go
back sooner, but I have to raise a bit of cash first.
mark

Pinky said:

Can anyone give me advice on two subject with regard to my next years
holiday that I am planning in Italy next year.

[details snipped]

I'd add (yes weeks late!):
Italian campsites are shut until Easter, or later.
(Important because it gets very hot in July/August.)
Almost all campsites are on the coast.
(Ok, I have camped near Firenze).
Their attitude to 'wild camping' is as relaxed as you'd expect.
Italian car drivers attitude to cyclists is _much_ better than the UK.
(They may be fast, but they like to show that they've seen you and
avoid you with skill.)

--
Jan

Jan Wysocki said:

Pinky said:

Can anyone give me advice on two subject with regard to my next years
holiday that I am planning in Italy next year.

[details snipped]

I'd add (yes weeks late!):
Italian campsites are shut until Easter, or later.
(Important because it gets very hot in July/August.)
Almost all campsites are on the coast.

http://www.eurocampings.co.uk/en/
I've found this site quite useful..
All the best
Dan Gregory

Tks both.

It is some 38 years since I was last in Italy -- when I spent some 6 months
attached to the Italian Army in a Nato job in Anzio ( I actually did very
little work and spent my time walking the seven hills of Rome 15 times
over). My schoolboy eructation had led me into a total fascination of Roman
history. Which is still mixed up with the Italian campaign of 1944/5.

I look forward to crossing the Apennines to Monte Casino. When I was last
there ( as an attached brit officer) a Greek officer, studying the campaign,
took me up the Ghurkha attack route. In 1967 we still scrambled through a
red rust of mortar and other shells as he led me through the assault in
detail. it was a very vivid re-enactment of a huge battle of determined
opposing forces.

So I intend to bash down to Vasto on the Adriatic coast. Then cross over to
Cassino and after a day refreshing my memories heading up to Rome -- and
then Pisa and Firenze before I return to Venice and a Euro Bike Express bus
trip back home.

--
Trevor A Panther
In South Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom.
www.tapan.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

"Dan Gregory" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jan Wysocki said:

Pinky said:

Can anyone give me advice on two subject with regard to my next years
holiday that I am planning in Italy next year.

[details snipped]

I'd add (yes weeks late!):
Italian campsites are shut until Easter, or later.
(Important because it gets very hot in July/August.)
Almost all campsites are on the coast.

http://www.eurocampings.co.uk/en/
I've found this site quite useful..
All the best
Dan Gregory