"Welcome to Italy"

We tour the home of "La Dolce Vita" where the quality of the roads, the weather, the landscape and the food combine to perfection. We concentrate on these areas because of the quality of roads, the weather, the food, the landscapes and because it is the best location in the world for this type of holiday. Let us tell you a little about Italy and driving in this country:

Roads

Roads in Italy vary from non surfaced, bending, narrow country lanes to immaculate motorways, with every combination in between. Our tours try to keep to roads that are wide enough for two way traffic, and that have surfaces that are not full of holes etc. However we cannot guarantee that we will not have to use some less impressive stretchs of tarmac (or worse!).

Surfaces when new are generally good but do have some severe summer weather to contend with and so tend to get slippery quite quickly. Always be attentive after a summer rainfall as all the rubber/oil/spilt fuel will rise to the surface after a dry spell.

Potholes and serious surface changes are common even on some motorways (especially where there is a constant stream of heavy lorries/trucks).

Elba, one of our favourite mini destinations, is well known as having skating rink quality surfaces on many of its roads.

Always keep an eye out for gravel/dirt roads joining the main road, especially on corners (which otherwise look sooo inviting....) as they often leave a layer of grit/dust which is very slippery for bikes.

Traffic
See our rules of thumb below.

Weather
One of the main reasons for motorcycling here. The summer weather is reliably dry and warm/hot and warm evenings. Daylight is from early morning (5.45am-6.00am) through to mid evening. The hottest days are uncomfortable in motorcycle leathers except when moving (which is why our support car carries changes of clothes for town stops!)


Food & Drink

Italians know a thing or two about eating (and something about drinking). Food varies from region to region but overall centres on simplicity and freshness of ingredients and quality of preparation. Breakfast is the continental European standard of pastries and coffee (although sweeter than the the French counterpart). Lunch can be a heavy three or four course affair and dinner much the same again. Hence long siestas in the afternoon!. Dinners are served later than in the UK and USA (around 7.30pm onwards). Staples of pasta, soup (zuppa) and cooked meats are always available, and we do not expect anyone to lose weight on our tours. Vegetarians are also well catered for with the best tasting fruits and vegetables in Europe!

Landscapes

The Italian Peninsula is 80% mountain/hill and is always changing. From the Alps in the far north down to the Ligurian coast that drops sharply into the sea, through to the Versilian coast where the sea has receded significantly leaving a flat coastal plain. The Appennines create a backbone to Italy and these are where much of our riding is completed. Tuscany as a region includes mountains of over 3000m (6000+ ft), rolling hills, flat valleys and everything in between. The areas of Umbria and Lazio tend to be more rolling and a more golden colour (the further south you travel the drier it becomes) and further south still takes on a very 'Mediterranean' feel. We cover many different landscapes on our tours, travelling past ski resorts in the Appennines, snaking along the Ligurian and Adriatic coastlines, rolling over the hills of Chianti and Umbria and mixing it all together in Elba!

Rules & Regulations

Road Positioning	Drive on the right (is the law!)
Speed Limits	Towns/Villages	50kph / c.30mph
	Rural roads	90kph / c.55mph
	Rural roads (when raining)	80kph / c.50mph
	Dual Carriageways	110kph / c. 65mph
	Motorways	130kph / c. 83mph
	Private Motorways/Raining on Motorway	110kph / c. 65mph
Headlights	Dipped headlights 24 hours per day
Speed Cameras	Getting more common! Motorways and built up areas. Generally no warning signs (and even more generally few of the cameras seem to work). Fines received by DucatiTours will be charged to the rider of the allocated bike!
Drink Driving Limit	0.5 mg/ml (in the UK & USA 0.8mg/ml)
Drink Driving Limit with CDT vehicles!	Zero alcohol!
Horns	Officially banned from built up areas.....
Fines	On the spot fines are used
Documentation to carry	Driving licence, vehicle registration document and insurance document. We advise keeping a passport nearby!
Right of way	Unless otherwise posted the person to your right has a legal right of way!
Roundabouts/islands	A relatively new adoption into Italian roads and still alot of confusion as to how they work. Common for accidents. The rule is that unless otherwise marked, traffic on the roundabout has right of way (like the UK but in the other direction)
Traffic Lights	Standard European system of Red straight to Green. Green to Green and Yellow to Red. (Red is more advisory than literal for many Italian drivers)
Indicators/turn signals	The rules are the same as every other country, however do not believe any indication of other road users. People indicate left and turn right (and vice versa), forget to cancel indicators, forget to turn on indicators etc!
General rules of thumb...	Italian drivers rely on reactions rather than looking ahead and judgment. Some Italian drivers have good reactions..... Accident rates are higher in Italy than the UK and the USA Italian driving speeds vary greatly. You may get stuck behind an Ape (the three wheelers) or a 30 year old Fiat Panda doing 20kph for miles or you may see a car overtaking everyone, everywhere at 3 times the speed of the other vehicles on blind bends, before the brow of a hill or on the wrong side of the road in a queue of traffic One way streets are no guarantee that you will not meet a car/motorbike/truck coming the other way! Very big (road blocking) traffic can be just around the corner on any type of road, including people with chainsaws cutting up tree trunks, tractors/trailers with no lights etc