It’s always a good time in Italy

Photos – Juliette Charpentier · Enzo Foures · Jean-Baptiste Delorme

At the end of August, we were about to visit the South of Italy with my friends Juliette and Enzo. A 5-day bike trip around the city of Lecce, in the Puglia region. We had booked our train tickets four months in advance to make sure everything would go smoothly, and it was probably the only aspect of this trip that was planned. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.

The night before our departure, a landslide destroyed one of the train lines we were supposed to take between Lyon and Milan, we couldn’t believe it! We had to find another way to reach Italy, and the only option we had at that point was to take the bus and try to catch our connecting train in Bologna to finally reach the city of Lecce.

Unfortunately, our bus got delayed due to massive traffic jams, causing us to miss our train in Bologna. After 18 hours on the bus and a night of bad sleep, we just accepted that it wouldn’t be possible to reach our destination on time. We realized we should start our adventure from Bologna and find another destination, probably Florence.

“Our goal was to focus on exploring more than just riding. Relying on locals for recommendations, occasionally checking a map before getting too lost.“

– Our strategy to reach Florence

At least, this last-minute change didn’t impact our initial plan, which was to only set a departure and an arrival and improvise from there. Our goal was to focus on exploring more than just riding. Relying on locals for recommendation, occasionally checking a map before getting too lost. Luckily, Juliette speaks italian and was able to connect with the locals

Also we didn’t want to ride more than 30 km per day to keep plenty of time off the bike. This way, we could enjoy each location and stop wherever we felt like and keep things very spontaneous.

“We didn’t want to ride more than 30 km per day, that way we’d still have plenty of time off the bike to enjoy each location.“

– Our guideline for this trip

On day three, we arrived in Monghidoro where we grabbed a bunch of take away beers at the local bar and spent the rest of the day at the football and volleyball pitches under the last lights of the day.

Ironically, the only time we got really lost was after we followed a GPS gravel route that led us into a steep forest in the middle of nowhere. Enzo ended up destroying his rear wheel due to branches breaking some spokes. The wheel was so bent that it got stuck in the frame and he couldn’t ride anymore, it was game over for us.

We were lucky to find Nicolai, an italian guy driving his camping car who agreed to drop Enzo and his bike at the closest town with a bus line to reach Florence, we owe you one, Nicolai!

“With three broken spokes and the rear wheel stuck in the frame, it was game over”

– After getting lost in the middle of nowhere

Our trip to Florence ended earlier than expected, but we used this extra time to chill and visit the city like proper tourists, eating too much pasta and drinking too many coffees. Funny thing, we ran into Vitor, a friend from Barcelona that happened to be visiting Florence at the same time. We met up at one of his favorite restaurants to have some good pasta together. A last one before heading back to France.

We didn’t make it to the South of Italy this time, and nothing went as planned. But in the end, it’s always a good time in Italy!