Roman Holiday - Italy Motorcycle Tour (Guided)

Italy from Rome and back, guided. Twelve days, eleven nights and around 1,265 miles, with a tour leader, group dinners and two free days, running north into Tuscany and south to Matera and the Amalfi Coast.

Tuscany opens it. Lake Bolsena and the hill town of Montalcino lead to Siena, then a short ride through the Chianti hills to Florence, which gets a free day, and a city worth more than that. The daily distances here are modest, 75 to 175 miles, which is the right pace for this part of the country.

The second half of the trip heads into a much quieter Italy. Gubbio and the Umbrian hills come first, then Assisi and the Basilica of San Francesco on the way to the Adriatic at Pescara. Peschici on the Gargano promontory follows, then Matera, where the Sassi dwellings are carved into the side of a ravine and were still inhabited within living memory. The Sorrento Peninsula closes the trip with a free day for the Amalfi Coast, Capri or Pompeii before the run back to Rome.

EAGLERIDER provides the motorcycle, the tour leader, all eleven nights and the group dinners. Fuel, most meals and insurance are arranged separately, and prices are quoted in US dollars. The route matches the self-guided version mile for mile, so the difference is the guiding and the company. For riders who want central and southern Italy led rather than self-navigated, with Rome at both ends to keep the flights simple, this is the straightforward choice.