Sicily

I've been there on bike trips several times and can recommend it, beautiful and steeped in history.
Watch where you leave the bike at night though, several bikes had bits stolen from them one night in Agrigento, including a pair of Brembo Goldline calipers. Apparently, according to the local bike dealer, this is not uncommon. Rush hour in Palermo is not for the feint hearted.:beerjug:
 
We did a Fly-Drive a few years back. Beautiful place, but we came across plenty of serious criminality - not somewhere to go with your eyes wide shut for sure.

The Car Rental guy told us all the places to avoid & the usual methods employed - we only slipped up once, by getting lost in Catania Port area. Characters with knives, were riding pillion on scooters, testing every door handle/window in the traffic queue hoping for a bag snatch. We also saw guys with trolley jacks - they would park their van precariously at the roadside to cause a hold-up - then, when they saw wheels they fancied, they would try to run forward & get the target car up on jacks. Thankfully our Punto was of no interest.

Personally, I would love to go again, but not as a lone biker. I think a small group would be best, always ensuring that the bikes are locked well away from prying eyes at night. Daytime parking needs watching of course, along with luggage security (some folk were relieved of belongings/bags left in their car overnight outside one Hotel). BMW Tours were doing a Grand Tour at one time - I don't know about 2017. I fancied the idea of taking a route down through Italy (maybe use the motor-rail to cut the tedious bit) over to Sicily, then back to Genoa/Nice Island hopping - we just need Sterling to strenthen up a bit to sell it to SWMBO, as it won't come cheap.

Incidentally, what is it about Alex P that makes the sap rise in us old blokes? That Forte Resort/Hotel she used, keeping it all in the family, costs a tidy sum by the way.
 
I looked recently and wondered to myself why there isn`t an Italy sub forum within the Travel section. With the availability of motor rail, with bike shipping and cheap flights to places like Pisa, accessing Italy for short 1-2 week trips is becoming possible.
I`ve started to map out in mapsource the 50 tour routes listed in the Italia in moto book ISBN: 978-88-365-5914-5 published by the Touring club Italy www.touringclub.it
As some of you may be familiar with this book it might be worthwhile uploading the routes when the project is complete, as 3 of the routes (45, 46, & 47) are specific to Sicily.
 
I've wondered that, too. I guess it's because bods generaly stop at the Alps?

I'll get a sub-section made, I think. I created this thread as I was keen to share what the local Sicilian tourist office had done by way of encouraging motorbiking tourists. If we can get something going in a sub-section and encourage a bit more Italian travelling, great. It would be nice to have the 50 gpx routes if you could share them, please.

I've got the Italian in moto book and (I think) an updated or re-issued version, along with some other pretty good local publications, albeit so many guides concentrate on the north of the country. One of the best things I picked up was a free suggested Italian routes map. I'll see if I can scan it in on the large copier at work and share it as a PDF.
 
Isn't it mostly a shithole with rubbish in streets, apart from a few tourist destinations?

Would that not depend on a persons point of view, or what they are interested in, clearly you think most of its a shit hole, others may love the place.

A link for those who are interested, to a site with plenty of info and routes to use for a guide. i have started to trace a few for next year.

http://www.mototurismodoc.com/tour-in-moto/index.php

Its done in regions or there is a complete map of all routes here.

http://www.mototurismodoc.com/tour-in-moto/mappa-italia.php
 
Isn't it mostly a shithole with rubbish in streets, apart from a few tourist destinations?

Er, no. It's not.


For those interested in riding up or down through the islands here is a ride report wot I wrote three years ago. Hopefully it will give a flavour of what you can expect.
 
Er, no. It's not.


For those interested in riding up or down through the islands here is a ride report wot I wrote three years ago. Hopefully it will give a flavour of what you can expect.

I read that report a while ago, i will now read it again to refresh my mind. thank you.
 
Article

Sorry this is a bit crude but the whole article in one pdf is about 20Mb!

Written by Mike Engelke and published in the September 2014 issue of BMW Motorcycle Magazine of America.

Hopefully, some will find it interesting.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0233.jpg
    IMG_0233.jpg
    74.8 KB · Views: 486
  • IMG_0234.jpg
    IMG_0234.jpg
    103.1 KB · Views: 485
  • IMG_0235.jpg
    IMG_0235.jpg
    132 KB · Views: 482
  • IMG_0236.jpg
    IMG_0236.jpg
    127 KB · Views: 493
  • IMG_0237.jpg
    IMG_0237.jpg
    128.9 KB · Views: 510
And the rest ..
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2.jpg
    IMG_2.jpg
    127.5 KB · Views: 485
  • IMG_3.jpg
    IMG_3.jpg
    125.2 KB · Views: 497
  • IMG_4.jpg
    IMG_4.jpg
    126.7 KB · Views: 493
I've wondered that, too. I guess it's because bods generaly stop at the Alps?

I think that is the answer: generally, if you've taken a scenic/minimal motorway route and ridden for two, three or even four days to get to the Italian border - and know that you have an equally long journey to get home - it puts a lot of pressure on the holiday. And when getting there means riding through some spectacular areas, whether it's the French, Swiss or Austrian mountains, it's hard to see the benefit in pushing on a lot further. Particularly if the bit of Italy in which you've landed is the Dolomites. A few days round there and then heading for home feels like time very well spent (because it is, of course). Especially as the contrast when you roll out of the Alps and into the Po valley is stark: congested towns and cities, flat and busy roads – turning round and heading back into the Alps suddenly makes a heap of sense!

The Italian races do help lure some people further south – into the mountains of Tuscany to visit Mugello, or over to the coast for San Marino (though to be honest you need to head away from Rimini for the good riding - but not very far). When the trains ran down to Livorno, that was a great opportunity to get a head start and explore more of the rest of the country - especially Tuscany, Lazio, Le Marche and Umbria.

But it is definitely worth exploring further south. Road conditions do vary - generally from immaculate to awful, with little that you'd call average in between - but the scenery is spectacular. You have the Apennines running down the spine of the peninsula spawning fabulous roads everywhere. Some of the riding in Calabria and Basilicata is astonishing.

For me, though, Sicily is the one bit of Italy I'm not bothered about visiting again. Bits of it are spectacularly beautiful, but bits of it are jaw-droppingly awful, from the litter in every lay-by to the beggars in every town and the constant suspicion that the locals are about to rob you or nick the bike. Also, it's the place I've felt least safe around local drivers – even the insanity of Naples didn't worry me as much. I've never seen a head-on car crash in the UK; on my first trip to Sicily, I saw two within about 40 mins of each other - cars nose-to-nose in the middle of the road with people (at one of them including a police man) standing around gesticulating. It is a shame because the north coast, Etna, down towards Syracuse.... well, pretty much all of the island is beautiful and the weather is normally lovely. Clearly, the secret to enjoying is going to be sticking to the nice bits while avoiding the rough bits (Catania!) but I've been there four times now and that's enough for me.

Sardinia, on the other hand... book me up now!
 
It would be nice to have the 50 gpx routes if you could share them, please.

If you'll forgive the self-promotion, the expanded RiDE Guide to Europe contains the routes I put together covering the majority of the country (yes, even including Sicily) and all the GPX files supporting it are on the RiDE website.
 


Back
Top Bottom