Bologna and Beyond

August 18, 2025

Bici to Bologna

Andiamo!
Northern Italy is our route of choice this year. Having approached Italy from the north on a few occasions, we’ve decided this time to start from the other direction - south to north and back.

It’s a relatively short route in comparison with our Bavarian and French effort of 2024 and some others previous, but looks to be packed with interest as well as the possibility of getting up close and personal with the Dolomiti! In past years when cycling south we’ve entered the north of Italy on three different routes: from Innsbruck and the Reschen Pass, Salzburg on the Adria Alpe, and through Slovenia to Piran and then onto Trieste.

A special highlight of our 2016 trip, was crossing the alps via the Reschen Pass to Nauders and through apple orchards to Bolzano, Trento and Lake Garda. The memory of the high peaks on either side of the trail still resonates strongly and so with that in mind we’ve worked on a route that takes us in a loop north from Bologna to Lake Garda and Bolzano, across to Dobiacco and then south to the Veneto and eventually back to Bologna. It will be a route familiar to a number of cyclists writing journals on Cycleblaze and we’re grateful to those who have provided helpful details of the trails and places of interest. It has been really useful to take first hand experience into our planning.

Memories of our 2016 route- apple orchards and vineyards.

We’re taking pretty much the same equipment and cycles as previous years with the exception of Marmot, our beloved tent- all 2.2kgs of her. In addition we’ll leave out sleeping bags and one or two other camping necessities. Foregoing the aspiration of back to basics cycling leaves us with some guilt and regrets, but this will no doubt be assuaged by compensations. Finding camping in some parts of Italy is not as easy as rocking up to the ubiquitous Camping Municipals in France, though admittedly this may seem a lame excuse.

I’ve been advised though, that our NZ dollar is unlikely to stretch as far as the wonderful accommodation choices pictured in some journals. Or the fine dining either. However, I’m not so proud I’ll eschew the odd can of ravioli. To which end we’ll bring our jetboil with the attachment for a pan or saucepan. Finding the gas container with the required screw attachment may be a challenge but so far Decathalon has come to our rescue- even if finding a store can be a mission.

As far as attire goes, we won’t look like a Tour de France peloton- we do use some Ground Effect gear- rain jackets and knee warmers but on recent trips, we’ve tended to mix things up a little with more merino and quick drying shirts. Since the weather could be a little changeable we’re including some warmer gear. Ground Effects Knee tremblers have proved excellent for keeping lower limbs warm.

We have kept the bike boxes we brought back from Gatwick last year and as they are still in good condition and taped up, we should be able to make use of them again. We usually pack one pannier into a box and use the other as cabin baggage. For checked in (or ‘chicken’ as I hear it in NZ) Emirates allows 2 pieces up to 30Kgs - our boxes and an extra bag. In the past it’s been tight but we’ve managed that fairly well.

Training shot number 2 - how do you make this Garmin thing tell you where you are?

Training shot 3 - that’s our direction for Italy.

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