Cycleventures will meet you at Leonardo da Vinci airport and transfer you and your bike to our hotel near the airport. After setting our bikes up we’ll meet for our trip orientation and welcome drink.

After a short transfer in the van we begin to wind our way into the blue-green hills of Latium crowned with a pale golden light and ancient stone villages, past breathtaking vistas alongside Lago di Bracciano to bustling Viterbo. Originally an Etruscan settlement, it became the papal centre during the 13th century and today is recognized for having maintained the finest preserved medieval buildings in all of Italy.

We are surrounded by beautiful checkerboard fields as we pedal a ribbon of pastoral country roads to the hill town of Todi. Make the effort to get inside the walls of the old village and walk up the ancient streets to the grand square, Palazzo del Priori.

Looking down over the Tiber valley from its hilltop vantage, Todi is one of the most strikingly situated hill towns in Umbria. A short walk from our hotel is the lovely Duomo that was built in the 13th century and is home to one of Umbria’s finest choirs. The riding around Todi is epic: choose from a myriad of loops that’ll take you over hills, through villages and back again.

An early start today will allow us time to visit the Lungarroti Wine Museum and a nearby pottery shop in Torgiano.  Then it is an easy afternoon ride along the valley floor to Santa Maria di Angeli. Take the opportunity to visit its huge Basilica and the exquisite St. Francis garden.  A short climb up to Assisi brings you to this famous Italian centre.

Assisi, permeated with the 700-year old spirit of St Francis, the patron saint of poverty,is an extraordinary town that is best explored on foot. See St. Clara's church and the San Francesco Basilica or relax in a café on the piazza. There is a great 40 km loop through Spello, Collepino and back to Assisi from the back. This afternoon we’ll have a guided walking tour of Assisi.

Today's ride is beautiful. We spend tonight in Cortona, another hill town so we’ll cycle very quiet and undulating forest roads that take us through small towns, into Tuscany to arrive in beautiful Cortona.

Today we enter the heart of Tuscany’s renowned Chianti region. There are several switchbacks out of Cortona then you reach the valley and pedal flat roads before climbing into the hills again. Chianti is a dream for diring with a web of quiet rural roads to choose from. San Sano is a dreamy little hamlet on a hill surrounded by vineyards.

Cycling through the Chianti vineyards along a perfect ridge road is this day's highlight. You can cruise the network of roads and visit the delightful towns such as Gaiole in Chianti, Radda in Chianti and Caslellina in Chianti. Of course you must stop and have a leisurely lunch and sample the local wines.

Spend time exploring Siena’s extraordinary Piazza del Campo, Plazzo Pubblic, the Duomo Cathedral  (a must!) and Pinacoteca.  For dinner, plan to have a pizza at one of the popular outdoor restaurants on Piazza del Campo. If you are keen to visit Florence the short train ride brings you to the heart of the city, where you’ll find the main attractions quite accessible.

Soon after we depart the city of Siena, we find ourselves cycling past the parched wheat fields of the isolated region known as Le Crete, but before long we are into the more typical Tuscan patchwork of fields seen near Montalcino and Pienza. Pienza, where we stay for two nights, has superb examples of Renaissance architecture and town planning.

You have several choices of gently rolling, country roads to get to Montepulciano, but there is no way to avoid the 500m climb into the town. And as a reward, a choice of elegant and rustic restaurants that afford extraordinary views, offer superb food and a great selection of Brunello and Montepulciano wines.  Do treat yourself!

Depart early so you have an opportunity to discover Orvieto’s treasures. The luminous marble façade of the Duomo can be seen for miles, especially when the setting sun lights it up. Inside the cathedral you will discover another treasure, the very important series of frescoes known as the Last Judgment. After visiting the Duomo, walk to the famous waterfall with a 248-step staircase on each side, that donkeys used to deliver water in the 16th c.

If you are keen to spend a day in Rome you could catch an early train from to Rome, then take the airport shuttle bus from the Termini to our airport hotel.  If the big city life is not beckoning you, enjoy a final day pedaling to Tuscania where we’ll transfer you to our hotel at the airport.

Today we’ll shuttle you to Roma’s Leonardo Da Vinci Airport for your flight home. Arrivederci!