In a land that was the birthplace of "Pirate" Marco Pantani, the pride of Romagna, and Alfonsina Strada, an Emilia-Romagna pioneer and the first - as well as only - woman to race the Giro d'Italia alongside men, the great attention devoted to the world of two wheels is not surprising.
From the Apennines to the coasts, there are numerous bicycle routes throughout the provinces of Emilia-Romagna, ideal for discovering the variety of the landscape and the richness of the local heritage in a slow, sustainable and authentic way.
Among the most significant routes are the Food Valley Bike, in the Parma area; the Ciclovia del Sole, which connects Mirandola to Bologna; the Anello delle Valli di Comacchio, immersed in the wetlands south of Ferrara; and the Ciclovie dei Parchi, which cross the region's protected areas and nature reserves.
If you are considering a vacation in Emilia-Romagna, here are three good reasons to choose it ... by bike:
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.
Ernest Hemingway
