A bunch of Brazilian riders have arrived in the beautiful city of Milano. Rudinei, Raul, Rene, Joao, Paulo, Rogerio and Genaro are looking very much forward to get their motorcycles out the garage and explore the area south of Milano, respectively also the region of Tuscany. 

"Il Dottore di Casco" assisted with some last minute preparation of the riding gear. I can assure you, we had dinner before

Leaving Milano was unexpectedly unspectacular for such a major city

A short ride on the highway took us further south and also closer to the Apennin Mountains. Compared to the Alps, the Apennin is a lower mountain range but is covered in a lush green all over the place. Riding a motorcycle through the forests all day long relaxes you completely.

Our evening was a relaxed one, too. Rapallo is our tonight's destination. From our hotel we can enjoy the view of the Castelo sul Mare.

Don't you think its a bit "cheesy"?

Riding around 5 earths in one day? How can this possibly be true?

Well, the literal translation of "Cinque Terre" is "The five earths". But in reality, of course, these are the five colourful villages, which are nestled against the Italian coastline between Rapallo and La Spezia.

Despite the  drizzle it was a fantastic riding day with an unexpected finish before the hotel

If I lived in Italy, I would have a coffee break all the time Espresso, Cappucchino, Latte Macchiato.... it is all so delicious

... this picture, too, has two sides

... or if he changes for the local transportation with a view

This morning's drizzle didn't keep us from doing some sightseeing. Our first stop at the leaning tower of Pisa wasn't a far away ride anyways.

Famous places, of course, attract many visitors. But still it was quite something to see this tower that permamently causes the desire in you to install some support to prevent it from falling over

San Gimignano, with its medieval towers, was a perfect combination of lunch break and sightseeing. 

A fairly early arrival in Siena allowed some of us to walk into the old part of the city to see the Il Campo and the Duomo

In the morning at the briefing we were praying for the rain to spare us, at the Abbazia di Sant'Antimo we were asking for forgiveness for any flaws in our riding, during the day we thanked god for the beauty of the land we were blessed to ride through, and that we didn't stray from the right path. Finally, in Assisi we were contemplating in the gigantic Church of Saint Francis.

If this isn't called a religious ride.

The seven holy riders

They said they bought altar wine

... we thought the thermal waters would support our spiritual cleansing

Even though today's ride would have been a relly nice one, the weather gods gave us a nice amount of rain, too. But of course, we stayed happy and got focussed more on sightseeing Florence, the cradle of the Renaissance.

Florence is famous for its history. As the center of late medieval European trade and finance, it was one of the richest cities of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Numerous artists and clergy were at home here: Leonardo da Vinci spent large parts of his youth in Florence, Michelangelo found shelter in the Medici church, and Galileo Galilei lived as court mathematician in the Medic palaces.

Look at our pictures to see our walk through the city.

Liquid sunshine with plenty of good mood

Another day that the sun couldn't find her way through the clouds allowed only for the first half of the day to stick to curvy roads.

We still were able to take in a bit of racing athmosphere at Mugello race track by watching the training session.

In the afternoon Ducati in Bologna was the main attraction.

We drove out of Bologna again this morning to take a last look at the Ducati Museum, and shortly afterwards stopped by Enzo Ferrari in Maranello.

 WOW!!  That was an experience!  The Ferrari Museum was an unbeatable highlight.  On the subsequent bus ride through the factory premises and the test track, we were able to learn a lot about the red cars.  Even if we weren't allowed to get off the bus.  Taking photos was of course not allowed either.

Emiglia Romana is definitely one of the most beautiful regions in Italy and turned out to be the greatest driving pleasure of this tour for us today.

With the small town of Salsomaggiore Terme we have reached our last stop of this tour.  Tomorrow we're going back to Milan.

Of course, even the roundabout has to be "Ferrarizised"