What are the most clicked Italian cycle routes?

When you want to go on a cycling excursion or plan a cycling holiday, the choice of itinerary is essential.

You need to know its length, stages, technical characteristics and accommodation, tourist and cultural offerings.

Bicitalia.org, the national cycle network mapped over the years by FIAB, the Italian Environment and Bicycle Federation, has drawn up the ranking of the most clicked cycle routes and itineraries on the web.

Bicitalia includes 20 national cycle paths, many of which are connected to the European EuroVelo cycle network, and 90 cycle paths including quality regional and local routes, cycle paths along the routes of former abandoned railways, greenways, thematic itineraries, and cycle paths ideal for local tourism.

In the last two years there has been a general increase in accesses of + 84%: the views, in fact, have passed from just under 1.5 million to almost 2.5 million in April 2021.

This means that the average annual click has doubled: from almost 300,000 per year between 2014 and 2019 to 629,000 views per year in the last two years.

Going into more detail, FIAB has developed two classifications: the first relating to the "great itineraries", therefore the national cycle routes, and one referring to the quality cycle routes of a regional and local nature.

In the top ten of the "great itineraries", 1st place for the CICLOVIA DEL SOLE from San Candido (BZ) to Palermo, with a total of 163,000 views (+ 82% from 2019 to 2021); followed by the PO CICLOVIA, also known as VenTo, from Venice to Turin along the river, with almost 129,000 views; and by the CICLOVIA ADRIATICA (from Trieste to Santa Maria di Leuca) third place with over 104,000 views.

It is worth underlining the enormous increase in clicks (+304% between 2019 and 2021) recorded for the AIDA-Alta Italia Da Tratraversare cycle route, a 900 km route from Susa in Piedmont to Trieste touching all the cities on the west-east axis . Strongly growing interest also for the FRANCIGENA from Como to Brindisi and its variants (+102% views) and for the TIRRENICA CICLOVIA (+143%).

For the category "quality cycle paths and regional routes", the most searched for on the Bicitalia.org website is the SPOLETO-ASSISI which has reached almost 81,000 views with an increase of 81% in the last two years, followed in second place by the DESTRA PO , a 125 km cycle route in the Este lands which is also very popular with foreigners; while third place, with almost 67,000 total clicks, goes to the VAL BREMBANA cycle path in the province of Bergamo, created on the path of a former disused railway.

Also for this category it is interesting to underline the great growth in views recorded in the last two years by some cycle paths, such as the VAL MARECCHIA cycle path in the province of Rimini (+127%) and the NAVIGLIO PAVESE cycle path (+105%), a typical route 'on Sunday' of 33 km from Milan to Pavia.

“Such a significant increase in online searches on cycle routes in our country confirms how the bicycle is now becoming the true ally for free time and holidays and how cycle tourism is the ideal formula, even in this period, for traveling in total safety and to discover the territories in slow mode - He says Antonio Dalla Venezia Bicitalia manager for FIAB. – Bicitalia is not only a useful tool for cycle travelers but represents, today, an important showcase for administrations that believe in virtuous bike-friendly policies and that look with optimism at the economic impact on the territories generated by investments in mobility infrastructure cycling. It's about seizing every opportunity and knowing how to access the different financing provided, for example, in the PNRR".

SOURCE: FAIRY TALES