"What a lovely view!" I thought, when we checked out some possible locations for our Welcome Briefing. Without power sockets in the garden we can't use our beamer and we will have to improvise a little bit, but the atmosphere on this terrace in the hills above the city is to good to miss out. So we quickly made the decision and moved our first encounter with the whole group to the outdoors. But we earned that, after a rough start of the day while preparing the bikes. 

Around 5pm our guests from the United States, Colombia, South Africa and Turkey gathered around the flipchart in a half circle and listens to our itinerary for the next 10 days. Not without admiring the beautiful place and laughing about some jokes. Personally for me (Nico) this was the most relaxed and laid back atmosphere I had at a Briefing this year. After the briefing we had plenty of time for the bike handover and to check out the rides for this trip. 

The Welcome Dinner was very good as well, but the friendly staff in our tour start hotel took the term "Slow Food" a bit to far (for somebodies liking). But nevertheless we left the restaurant happy and with full belly - full of excitement for the first riding day ofcourse. 

Let's get ready to rumble! Even before breakfast we saw some luggage at the reception and next to our Van. The group was really motivated to get on the bikes. So after our first daily briefing and the grouping of 5 bikes per Tourguide we were on the bikes before 9 O'Clock. We gladly didn't stay in the centre of Firenze, so after just a little bit we left the morning traffic behind and hit the tuscan country roads. Not long after we reached our first highlight of the day, Passo della Conusma. Unfortunately the fun was dampened by a few trucks and missing opportunities to overtake, but everyone was still getting used to the new bikes. So we kept it relaxed and arrived safely at the top.

The first stop of the day was a  beautiful old little town called Poppi. The historical centre ist based around a Castle on the hill from the 1200s. We didn't meet a ghost of the Guidi Family who resided here in the Medival Age, but had a tasty coffee in an authentic, small bar. Are you team All-Day-Cappuccino or are you an Italian by heart, where Cappuccino after Lunchtime is frowned upon?

The rest of the morning consisted mostly of small and even smaller backroads through the hills and forests with the beautiful fall colors coming in. 

Todays lunchspot was in the famous town of Arezzo. You might know it from Roberto Benigni's Film "Life is Beatiful" from 1997 which was filmed in and around Arezzo. Buongiorno Principessa!

After lunch at the main square and a walk around we continued our journey. But not far from Arezzo we stopped again in Cortona. Because why do you have to decide between to pearls in the tuscan hills, right? A quick walk to the centre, an Espresso and a Gelato was all it took to fall in love with Italy - if we haven't already. 

With quite a few stops it was time for some (s)miles in the afternoon. As a good tourguide who wan't to get a feeling for your guests. And even through the Full Face Helmets, i could see their happiness in my mirror when we contuined towards Lago di Trasimeno. Imagine riding down the same mountain where Hannibal defeated two roman armies in June 217 BC during the second punic war. 

Time jump to 1400 years later. The History Lovers on this trip also appreciated tonights hotel. We stayed in a Castle, which was build in the year 1200 and is located just a few minutes south of Perugia on the ancient road to Assisi. What a great location to end the day with a tasty dinner and a Martini on the terrace.

Leaving Perugia, we quickly reached Assisi, the hometown of the famous Saint Francis, where we stopped for a picture to its impressive cathedral, one of the world's most important pilgrimage destinations for christians. Our next destination were the Sibillini Mountains and the Castelluccio plateau, witht their unique and wonderful landscapes. Here Nicolas organized a picnic for us, a big thenk you to him who managed to reach this place with the van and also pulling a big trailer!

This area was recently hit by earthquakes, and we could see a lot of devastation especially in the towns of Visso, Castelluccio and Amatrice.

After leaving the Monti Sibillini, we left Umbria and entered Abruzzo, another very green region of Italy. Passing by the beautiful Campotosto lake, we finally (after countless twisties) reached L'Aquila, capital of the region and Santo Stefano di Sessanio, at the feet of the Gran Sasso, highest peak of the Apennines. We are going to spend two nights here!

On a Restday everybody can spend the day to their liking. From sleeping in to shopping, from remote work to an extended nap. Or even truffle hunting with the dogs, like a Couple of our group did today in Santo Stefano die Sessanio. But usually half of the group enjoys the option with the least amount of rest, a loop on the bikes which can range from just a view hours of riding to a full day trip like here in the Abbruzzo mountains.

We started a little bit later after another wonderful breakfast - which was a good idea with over 200kms of fast paced mountain roads around the Gran Sasso mouintain range ahead of us. Our group of 7 had the pleasant surprise to ride with all three tourguides. From Santo Stefano we quickly climbed to a spectacular high plateau with prairie-like vegetation. And actually that scenery was used in the movie "They still call him Trinity" with Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill. After the sweeping corners of the plateau we rode down the switchbacks into the forrestry areas on the other side of Gran Sasso, which feels like a totally different country. Today we saw the "Great Rock of Italy" from every possible angle and enjoyed the majestic view of the highest peak in the Apenninens, sitting at 2912m above sea level.

Only broken up by another Coffee in Castelli and tasty Lunch in Prati di Tivo at the bottom of cable car, the fun continued for a long stretch in the valley with one nice curve after the other. In the Afternoon we climbed back up to high plateau and you could immediately tell, that we are back on the other side of the mountains again. And even with another break and a photostop we managed to squeeze in the ride up to the observatory on 2100m of elevation. With the already setting sun it was time to get back to Santo Stefano and enjoy the evening while talking about the perfect riding day over a glass of red wine.

At least Eric tried to work a little bit

What a great riding day! Leaving Santo Stefano, a wonderful road took us quickly to Castel del Monte and then we reached the valley where we could gas-up and then continue to reach the Maiella mountains. We stopped in the pretty town of Sulmona for lunch and then made our way
into the Abruzzo National Park, home to a wealth of flora and fauna. Sagittario Gorges, Passo Godi and Forca d'Acero were the roads on our menu today, and we finally reached our accomodations in the beautiful Comino Valley.

somebody was happy with a gelato!

Today we reached the coast for the first time since the tour began, and it could not have been a better spot, the pretty village of Sperlonga, half way between Naples and Rome. We stopped there for lunch and then headed into Naples, Italy's third biggest (and most iconic and beautiful!) city. Since it was saturday, the traffic in the city was not much and we could enjoy a magnificent view before finally reaching our hotel located in Agerola, up high on the Amalfi Coast!

Stretching for 50 km (30 miles) along a promontory from Sorrento to Salerno is one of Europe's most beautiful coastlines. But we are not the first ones to discover this place, and since this morning the weather was great and it was also a sunday... the road was very busy! Anyway we managed to do a very good loop, with a coffee break near Sorrento, a great lunch by the sea in Nerano and a coffee break in the wonderful (and crowded!) Positano. Some others decided to take a rest from the motorcycling and visited Pompei or Positano by taxi... and in the evening we went all together out... of course for a pizza!

A low-pressure area is moving southwards, and has accompanied us for almost the entire day. It took us a long time to leave the Amalfi coast (with a long coffee break in Amalfi) and, once we reached Salerno, we decided to use the motorway to go to Padula, where we had a tasty lunch and visited its magnificent Certosa, and finally Morano Calabro. We have reached the southernmost region of the italian boot! The weather forecast for tomorrow does not look better... we'll see!

After a night in Calabria, we spent most of the day today in the region of Basilicata, which
is one of the most sparsely populated in all of Italy. Unfortunately the weather was not good, so we left the hotel a little bit later and did only one coffee break before reaching Matera "almost" in time for lunch. And after that we went for a very interesting guided city walk in the "Sassi" (sassi means stones in italian) with a local guide who knows everything about the history of this unique place. After a wonderful dinner in one of the many caves of Matera, time to go to bed and see you tomorrow!

Finally the weather got much better and, while some decided to explore Matera all day long (and do some shopping too, of course!), others went for an easy ride in the nearby quite flat region of Puglia, where we could visit the fairytale town of Alberobello with its typical Trulli buildings, and then reach the Adriatic coast at Polignano a Mare, where we had a very tasty lunch by the sea. Back in Matera, time to relax before going out for dinner. A very good day!

The last day of this wonderful tour has finally arrived! From Matera to Bisceglie it's not far at all, but in the morning we stayed in Basilicata and enjoyed some nice and curvy backroads before entering Puglia, where we stopped at the magnificent Castel del Monte for lunch and a walk around this iconic castle built around 800 years ago. Time to say goodbye then, but only after a bootbeer and another dinner all together! Goodbye folks, it was a great pleasure riding with you and showing you some "undiscovered" parts of Italy!