Riding the Amalfi Coast, April 2023

It had been 4 years since our last moto trip in Italy and we have been planning to return ever since. The pandemic along with other issues got in the way of coming back sooner but we are here now!

This trip was once again guided by our friend Francesco of Central Italy Moto Tours whom we had ridden with on past tours. We were able to put together a larger group of friends and acquaintances from Utah and Oregon for the trip, along with my wife Sara and myself. Additionally we had a father and son team of Ido and Ami from Israel. Our bike for this trip was a BMW 1250 RT which is a very familiar bike to me. Also with us was Riccardo who drove the CIMT support van.

Left to right, Sue, Joe, Ido, Ami, Lasse, Lonnie, Sara, Lynn and Craig

**Day 1*: First things first***

The group met at our host hotel in Rome, Il Cantico, which is right next to Vatican City, the day before the ride to pick up the motos, after which we were treated to a wonderful dinner with the group at a local restaurant. Here, Francesco gave us an overview of the trip along with what we could expect along the way. The only thing that was not settled was the weather, which at this time looked like it could be a little wet.

Day 2: Ciao Roma

We negotiated our way out of Rome and into the countryside favoring the backroads to the coast at Sperlonga for lunch. This resort town is likely very busy in the summertime but early in the season it was very quiet. Francesco found an open restaurant to seat us and we had our first lunch on the road.

The weather thus far had been a little unsettled with only some light showers, but not awful. We continued down the coast for a bit before turning back up into the hills, the purpose of which was to take a wide circle around Naples and come into Pompeii from the north-east. This avoided much of the congestion of the city and took us direct to Pompeii where we had a brief but private tour of the ruins with a local guide.

On our ride from Pompeii to our overnight stop in Vico Equense the traffic started to get pretty heavy due to construction and the evening rush, so Francesco did what any Italian would do and simply rode around the stopped traffic. Craig and I had done this previously in Italy but some of the other riders in the group were taken aback by the strategy at first. It is quite commonly done in Italy and by the end of the trip most of us had gotten pretty comfortable with the practice. Our day ended at the Hotel Aequa with a view of Mt. Vesuvius where we would spend two nights.

Day 3: The headline event

The itinerary for this day was a loop around the Sorrento Peninsula and to view the amazing Amalfi coast. It is a truly spectacular road, perched on the cliff side and winding constantly through villages and local residences. The downside being that even this early in the season there is quite a bit of traffic and the going was sometimes slow. We had lunch in Positano which is very popular with tourists, and like so many places in Italy, this one is being loved to death.

Periods of heavy rain with intermittent sunshine accompanied us all day and made the twisty roads even more challenging. We did have one rider go down on a wet curve but it wasn’t serious and we all arrived back at our hotel in Vico safely.

The highlight of the evening meal was a local favorite Pizza place which sold pizza by the meter! Our group ordered 2 meters of mixed toppings pizza along with a few sides. We may have overestimated how hungry we actually were and ended up taking some home with us.

Day 4: Wet behind the ears

Departing Vico and crossing the peninsula once again we were on the coast road heading east to Vietri sul Mare where we left the blue water behind us. We now headed inland to the ancient city of Melfi where we visited Castello di Melfi before attending to our own needs with another fine lunch in the old town.

The weather was grey and damp but the roads were not awful and we had a good ride. Once in the old city however we began to notice that the ancient wet marble pavers could be a little slippery! We found a little extra caution to be helpful in these moments.

That afternoon the weather began to look more ominous and we knew that the rain was coming. As a result, Francesco set a more direct route to our next hotel in Matera. We soon realized that getting wet was going to be unavoidable, and I mean really wet! The rain came down and we carried on, as the water sheeted on the road we were getting showered from both above and below! Upon arrival we looked either awesome or pathetic to the hotel staff and we weren’t sure ourselves which definition applied best.

Day 5: Rest day or air dry

We would stay in Matera at our Hotel San Domenico al Piano for two nights. Half of our group decided to take a day off from riding and rest up from our ordeal while the other half decided to enjoy an easy day out around the area to dry out our soaked gear.

On this rest day the weather cleared quite dramatically and those who chose to ride had a lovely day exploring the Piccole Dolomiti Lucane (little Dolomites) along with the abandoned village of Craco. The quite rural roads had mostly dried out and we were able to experience all of the joys of a day on the moto, which included spectacular sights, excellent coffee and pastries and of course the freedom of cruising the lovely roads at a more sporting pace!

Day 6: Trulli amazing

Leaving Matera on a cool morning the rain showers had returned. Our mid-day stop was to be at Alberobello, the town where the unique local homes called Trulli are to be found. They are stone structures with conical roof of local stones and remind you of a house for Smurfs. We start to see them scattered in the countryside as we approach the town.

Our lunch stop was a little damp but we over-compensated with some extra coffee before getting back on the road to our hotel in Lecce. We had a little drama on the way into town when an ambulance clipped Lynn’s motorbike. He stayed up but was a little shocked by the encounter. Italian ambulances it seems take no prisoners! The old part of Lecce is nice but our time there was clouded by a last minute change in accomodations forced by the hotel. Francesco did his best to fix it but we ended up in a 2 star walk up that was not that great. Even though we had two nights here we did our best make do.

Day 7: Fine della Terre

On this layover day we headed south, once again on backroads to Santa Maria di Leuca, the tip of the boot heel of Italy and Lands End. From this vantage point you can look across the Adriatic Sea to Albania on most days!

We returned to our sad little rooms in Lecce before having a nice meal in the old town and an evening walk in the square. Good food and company goes a long way towards offsetting a crummy hotel.

Day 8: Arrivederci Lecce

Leaving Lecce behind we head back north, away from the coast and bypassing the busy port towns of Brindisi and Bari. With a lunch stop in the white-washed city of Ostuni, then on through Altamura (famous for its bread) and ending the day back on the coast in Trani.

Trani is where we had perhaps our best hotel of the trip, the Palazzo Filisio along with our best dinner at Osteria la Perla del Sud which specialises in fish caught that day and walked across the street, right into the kitchen! This view shown below is from our hotel balcony.

Day 9: Flamingo’s and Angels

This was perhaps my favorite day of the tour and not just because the weather had improved! We departed Trani along the coast on a spit of land which protects the Reserva Natural Il Monte from the Adriatic which is known for it’s pink flamingoes in the thousands. We saw them only from a distance in the marshlands but seasonally there can be a great many.

A little further along we headed inland up the steep and twisting road to Monte Sant’ Angelo, the city on the hill. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the town for us except for the switch-backing road up, the amazing views and the twisting descent down the other side! This was motorcycling at it’s best!

Back on the coast road we navigated around the Gargano Peninsula (the spur of the boot) to our lunch stop in Vieste, and then into Foresta Umbra (the dark forest). We ended the day on the shore of the Adriatic in Termoli and a quaint little family run hotel.

Day 10: The victorious return

This, our final day was also one of the longest as we rode across Italy almost from coast to coast. The central Apennines are surprisingly rugged and high enough to still hold some snow, even now in late April! Traversing some high passes and beautiful valleys, this was also an excellent day of riding.

We lunched at an Osteria where they served a family style rustic pasta with mushrooms which was hands down my favorite lunch of the trip. Then down out of the mountains and on the motorway back towards Rome. The challenges were not over yet, as navigating our way back to our hotel in Rome had to be overcome. However with our newly acquired Italian riding attitude the traffic was no match for us, the returning heroes of the road.

The end:

This was the end of our motorcycling adventure in Italy but not the end of our trip. Sara and I were going to spend another 5 days seeing the sights of Rome. We’ve both been here before but it had been many years in the past. Now we would slow down a little and enjoy some of what the “eternal city” had to offer.