our first day of riding, we left rome to go to Assisi.  on the way we collect many impressions, great landscapes and good Italian coffee.  First stop in the delightful village of Narni.  further it takes us to Montefalko, at the top of the main square we find great restaurants with local food.  Photos are taken in the Zyprensallee.  And before we arrive in Assidi, a great group picture

We leave Rom

Assisi looks pretty

Second riding day, and our first stop after we took the windy mountain roads right next to Lago Tremosine is Cortona. 
The city is wild, romantic and a real cultural highlight on the slope of Mounte Sant' Egido.
We enjoy the best Italian coffee at the Palazzo del Capitano, it's also the Filmset of "Under the Tuscan sun".

But we're here for the ride so we continue the ride on more curves, curves, curves up and down the mountains! 

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere we have our delicious lunch today. 
From there it's not far anymore to Urbino our last stop of this day, but only 10 km before it the road is closed so we have to make a big detour. As we arrive in Urbino we figured out why, there's a car race going on so we can see all the cars on the checkpoint passing by. 
The 14. Century renaissance city, sourrounded by a medieval city wall is also Valentino Rossis birthplace. 
On the small windy backroads we're riding forward to San Marino the indepentend city is the smallest republic in the world but there's no difference in language or currency.
We have views to the mountains on the left side and the ocean on the right. 
It is just a day with a fabulous ride, great food and coffee's, stunning scenery and good company.

parking in Italy

Today we ride a loop around North of Firenze, it's a misty autumn morning in the mountains until we reach our first stop the Mugello Circuit. 
From the 1920's the race crazy Italians did car races on regular roads, from 1974 the mugello circuit was opened and the first Moto GP race took place here in 1976 where Valentino Rossi won already 7 times.
On the parking lot with view over the Circuit the fog clears up, so we can see cars warming up on the track. 
Now we head back on the road into the forest but another car race is going on here so we cant ride up to our next mountain pass until 12 pm, another detour would be to long so we ride to the next village and have a coffee there until the roads open again for regular traffic.
We landed up in Scarperia a nice little village and part of the club of "The most beautiful villages in Italy". They are also one of the most important knife productions in Italy and Europe. Our cafe is right next to the Vicar palace founded in 1306 by the Florentine republic it was a military outpost and a place of control the roads that connected Florence to the north. Nowadays you find here a museum of cutting tools, which took place here since the 15. century a museum dedicated to the tradition of Scarperia knives and scissors.
The bell of the tower rings at 12pm so it's our go for getting back to the bikes and hit the road. 
The mountain passes are waiting for us, we ride endless curves on passo del Giogo with great views all around. Another pass is passo della Colla Di Casaglia this one is the best of this day a snake line on a small narrow road at the edge of the mountain and breathtaking views! 
In the middle of nowhere we enjoy best Italian cuisine at La botteca dei portico, JJ liked it so much that she kissed the owner after we left. 
The more we get closer to Florence the buysier the traffic gets, luckily we spend the most of the day up in Tuscany's famous mountain passes and beautiful hills. 

Through the rolling hills we ride into the Chianti region, famous for its good wine.

The small villages we pass are characterized by Romanesque churches and fortified medieval castles with the typical cypress alleys and vineyards.

We have again perfect riding weather on this day, so we enjoy the beautiful landscape to the fullest! 
For coffee we stopped first in Radda in Chianti on a hilltop in the heart of the Chianti region this picturesque small village is still restricted by its old defense walls, if you like to understand the soul of Chianti that's the right place for it. 
Our lunch restaurant in the vineyards offers us best cuisine before we hit the road for the last km on this day. 
On narrow twisty roads up and down the hills the riding fun comes to an end at Siena. 

Another ride in the typical Tuscan landscape. 

First we visit today a historical important ruin; Abbazia di San Galgano it's standing completely isolated on a flat plain. In the 15. century it was abounded for unknown reasons then in 1962 a Roman monk settled down and brought back life to this magnificent place of peace. 
Luckily Giora has his Drone with and we get a nice shot from above so you can see it's built like a cross.

Michaela awaits us for lunch with a lovely prepared picnic, aperitifs and a dessert mix of all the good food of this region. Thank you so much for this, that was awesome. 
Some of the group follow the support Van to the Hotel because it's only 14 km away from the picnic spot, the rest are coming with me for an extra loop up in the mountain. We're riding up on twisty roads higher and higher in a forested area, as we ride on the other side of the mountains the landscape changes back to hills, vineyards and cypress alleys. 
What a great mix! 

In the heart of this incredible beautiful old town in Pienza is our Hotel for this night, at the daytime it's kind of busy here but at night the streets are empty and for a walk after dinner you can enjoy it all for yourself. 

I have always EBT stickers with me, everybody has to know us Thanks Greg for stick it on the top

how did the time fly ?Today is our last day, it goes back to Rome but we will take the winding road.  a coffee stop in oriveto, a lunch stop at lago di vico and a last ice cream at lago di Bracciano

Kathedrale in Oriveto 

700 years old 

A special place for lunch 

lago di Vico 

we were really lucky, sun on arrival and also on departure, in between a lot of water from above

Upon arrival at the hotel in Rome, Claudia has a cool boot beer ready for us.  a nice ending