TRAVEL: Everyone goes to Tuscany. It’s beautiful – the cypress trees, the Chianti, the postcard climbs. It’s also packed.
But for the past decade, a different corner of Italy has been quietly hosting some of the best rides I’ve done. Not Tuscany. Not the Dolomites. The Adriatic Coast – specifically the town of Riccione, in Emilia-Romagna – and a base camp many North American cyclists have never seriously considered, let alone even know about.
Same country. Completely different riding. Half the crowds.
That’s about to change – and here’s how to get there…
Getting There: The Bologna Advantage
Fly into Bologna. It’s 90 minutes north of Riccione on the A14, and the airport is small enough to clear immigration and grab a coffee before most Roman terminals have even moved your bag. If you’re coming from North America, it’s worth adding a day or two on either end — Bologna is renowned as the culinary capital of Italy, and that is saying a lot. The tagliatelle al ragù alone justifies the detour.
Then head southeast to Riccione. One block from the Adriatic beach, hills visible in every direction. After a five-hour ride through the countryside, you can walk to the sea in two minutes.
For a cycling holiday on Italy’s Adriatic Coast, you’ve been overthinking the logistics. And while there are many bike hotels in the region, the original is the Hotel Dory – started over 25 years ago – and the standard by which all other bike hotels should be measured – and the ideal base to explore the many top rides to be discovered.
(See the PEZ video review below and read the full review of Hotel Dory here.)
Why Riccione Works So Well for Cyclists
The territory around Riccione offers something rare in European cycling: variety at every level, compressed into a surprisingly small area. Flat coastal roads in the morning. Serious climbs by afternoon. Everything within reach of the same base.
The Carpegna — Where Pantani Trained
If you know your cycling history, you’ll know the Carpegna.
Marco Pantani – Il Pirata, the last man to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same year – was from Cesenatico, just up the coast from Riccione. The Carpegna was his training ground. Seven kilometers of climbing, averaging around 10% with sections that hit considerably harder. Pantani would ride it repeatedly – sometimes four times in a single session, local riders still say.
His famous line about it: “Carpegna mi basta.” Carpegna is enough for me.
No need to go to the Dolomites. These hills were enough to build the legs that dropped everyone at Alpe d’Huez. Riding Carpegna knowing that doesn’t feel like a training ride. It feels like a pilgrimage. Plus – the descent off the back is one of the best I’ve done – period.
San Marino — The World’s Oldest Republic, by Bike
Perched on top of Monte Titano at 739 meters above sea level, San Marino is the world’s oldest republic — founded in 301 AD by a Christian stonemason who sought refuge on the mountain. It has maintained its independence ever since. It’s an awesome morning ride from Riccione.
Let that settle for a second.
The ascent covers roughly 10 kilometers from the base, with a mix of gradients depending on your route. At the top: medieval towers, UNESCO-listed historic center, views stretching east to the Adriatic and west to the Apennine peaks, and a coffee that you will have absolutely earned. It’s the kind of ride that sounds like a story when you tell it at home — and feels like one while you’re doing it.
Gradara — Dante Was Here
Gradara is the kind of place that stops you mid-ride.
The castle – one of the best-preserved medieval fortresses in Italy – is the legendary setting of Paolo and Francesca, the ill-fated lovers immortalized by Dante in Canto V of the Inferno. You arrive after a final climb up to the stone walls, park the bike, and suddenly you’re inside a 13th-century fortress. No queue. No tour bus in sight.
That’s the rhythm of riding here. One moment you’re deep in a climb. The next, you’re standing inside a piece of history.
Urbino – A Renaissance City You Ride Into
Urbino is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognized as one of the finest examples of Renaissance urban planning in Europe. The Ducal Palace sits above the surrounding valleys like it owns them – because for a while, it did. And if the name Raphael means anything to you, this is where he was born – Raffaello Sanzio, one of the great painters of the Italian Renaissance, grew up looking at these same hills.
Getting there by bike – climbing through wheat fields and oak forests before the city walls appear on the horizon – is one of the stronger experiences you’ll have all week. Not just as cycling. As travel.
The Gran Fondo Nove Colli
The Gran Fondo Nove Colli, based in nearby Cesenatico, is not just Italy’s most famous gran fondo – it’s the world’s oldest, first ridden in 1971. Nine climbs, nearly 4,000 meters of elevation. Knowing that this is the race these roads were built for tells you exactly what kind of terrain you’re riding through.
The Food Is Not a Side Note
In Emilia-Romagna, eating isn’t something you do between rides. It’s part of the ride.
Mid-climb, you pass vineyards. Post-summit, you stop at a family winery – bikes leaned against stone walls, glasses of local wine in hand. Nobody calls ahead. Nobody needs to.
Back at the hotel, dinner runs on what the region actually produces: fresh piadina hot off the stone griddle, squacquerone (a soft local cheese that doesn’t travel, which means you can only really eat it here), Prosciutto di Carpegna DOP – cured in the Montefeltro hills the same way it has been for centuries. Pasta is always homemade. Desserts too.
And then there’s the balsamic vinegar. The Giuliodori family – who run Hotel Dory – produce their own, aged over 30 years at their countryside farmhouse in Vecciano. Available exclusively to guests. One taste and you’ll understand why the supermarket bottle back home doesn’t deserve the same name.
Who This Riding Is For
The real answer is… almost everyone.
The region easily has something for all types of riders – from the demanding ascents of Carpegna and Urbino to gentler valley roads built for recreational riders and e-bike guests. Hotel Dory runs six guided groups divided by fitness level, with GPX routes posted every evening so you know exactly what you’re signing up for in the morning.
Strong riders will find serious climbs and lots of kms. Everyone will find beautiful roads and a week that doesn’t wreck them. Either way, the guides, the mechanics, and the rental fleet of Scott Addicts (and other models) mean you show up and ride – the planning is already done.
The Base: Hotel Dory
Stefano Giuliodori’s family has been running Hotel Dory in Riccione for decades – and the name itself comes from the last letters of their surname, which also tells you something about how personal this place is. Twenty-five years ago, Stefano took the model he’d built here and turned it into Italy Bike Hotels, now a network of over 50 certified cycling properties across the country.
Hotel Dory was the first. It’s still the one people use as the benchmark.
The hotel sits one block from the Adriatic. The bike room houses over 200 current-year Scott bikes – road, gravel, mountain, e-bike – all maintained by mechanics who work early and stay late. Guided rides go out daily, sorted by level. GPX files are posted the night before. There’s a full workshop, laundry service for kits, post-ride meals timed to when you actually get back, and a new wellness center with sauna, steam room, cold plunge, and massage. Stefano is also a certified sommelier and curates the wine list himself.
It shows.
When to Go
The best months for a cycling trip to Emilia-Romagna are March through early June, and September through late October.
July and August bring heat and the Italian beach holiday season – families, umbrellas, packed roads and too hot to riding. Spring and fall give you perfect temperatures, quiet roads, and the region at its most beautiful. September in particular: the harvest is happening, the light turns golden, and the hills are filled with cyclists who found this place before the rest of the world caught on.
Go then. Before everyone else does.
Get more info and book your stay at Hotel Dory here. (And tell ’em Pez sent you.)
The post Why Riccione Should Be Your Next Bike Holiday appeared first on PezCycling News.
