Why this one exists
Two areas that have nothing to do with each other geologically, and everything to do with each other on a bike. One is home. The other is where we go for our birthdays.
The week gives you Bassano through two sets of eyes. Ben still rides out of here like someone who chose it, which is what he is, and notices things locals stopped seeing years ago. Susi grew up here and takes you to the restaurants and growers that never appear on a list, because they have never needed to. Then you cross the Piave and the landscape changes completely: terraces stacked up the hillsides so steeply they are worked by hand, and a grape that most people think they know.
Two bases, with one point to point day in the middle. That shape matters. Long enough in each place to stop being a visitor, and a riding day that genuinely takes you from one world into the other rather than putting you in a van.
The climbsMonte Grappa from Semonzo, 25 hairpins. San Boldo Pass. The Cartizze terraces.
Food and wineValdobbiadene. Villa Angarano.
CultureAsolo. Canova Temple at Possagno. Conegliano. The UNESCO Prosecco Hills.
What only we can say
We have spent years in the Prosecco hills, enough that families open their front doors to us. One afternoon you will be making tagliatelle in a kitchen that belongs to someone we know, and her brother, who is an enologo, will come over for dinner to pour the wines and explain why they go with what you have just made.
Shape of the week
This is the rhythm, not a timetable. You pick the riding days from the menu below, and we build the week around which ones you want and what the weather is doing.
The riding days
We publish the days rather than a fixed itinerary, because that is how the trip actually works. Distances are what we ride, not a brochure total. Every week has one easy day in it on purpose.
East out of Bassano on quiet country roads into the wine hills of Monfumo and Castelcucco. You pass close to the plaster cast museum, which holds the original models for Canova's sculptures and is worth the detour if you have the legs. Then up into Asolo itself, a walled hilltop town, for lunch in the centre before the ride home. Road.
West instead, through the vineyards and olive groves on the gravel tracks north of town, then into Marostica, where the castle walls still run up the hillside and the main square is a giant chessboard. On from there into the hills above Breganze, which is bold red wine on volcanic soil, and back to Bassano over the La Rosina climb. Works on gravel or road.
South out of Bassano and almost entirely off the road: gravel tracks, cycle paths and the lanes that follow the waterways down to Cittadella. The town is a perfect circle inside its medieval walls and you ride the last stretch with them in front of you. Flat, three hundred metres of climbing in seventy two kilometres, so it is the easy day on any week you put it in.
Twenty five hairpins out of Semonzo, nineteen hundred metres of climbing, and cooler air at the top with a coffee at the rifugio before a long sweeping descent on the easier side. Entirely optional. Swap it for a flatter day up the valley cycle path, take an e-bike, or send half the group up while the other half has a day off the bike. Nobody has to prove anything on this holiday.
The point to point day, and the best one. Quiet backroads through the woods on the Montello, a long smooth stretch of converted railway path, then a set of small climbs into villages you would never find on your own. You stop at the Molinetto della Croda, a watermill built into a rock face, and finish deep in the eastern Prosecco hills at a different base entirely.
West along the panoramic roads above the terraces towards Valdobbiadene, where the best of the sparkling comes from. A few short sharp climbs to viewpoints that earn themselves, then down into Pieve di Soligo for a long lunch, and back through the vineyards at Collalto.
A short transfer north and then a loop of a turquoise lake under the mountains, with one climb to a viewpoint over the water. The afternoon is for swimming, or for sitting by the lake with a cold drink and not riding anywhere.
What is included
Guided and self-guided run on the same groundwork. The difference is whether there is a guide on the road with you, and a vehicle behind.
Price
That is the self-guided rate, for two people sharing, with everything above included.
Guided starts at €450 per person per day. It usually runs for a group of six to twelve, which is how the economics work best, and above eight we bring a second guide. Two people can travel guided if that is what you want. The price is simply different, and we will tell you what it is on the call.
We are not a booking engine and we never will be. Every trip is shaped on a conversation first, then priced. A 30 per cent deposit holds your dates and the balance is due 90 days before you arrive.
Peak dates are quoted on enquiry. All prices in euro.
“Their local knowledge of all the best places to ride along with their experience of the best spots to eat and drink are priceless.”Linzey Ryan · Guided, Bassano
Questions
No, and plenty of people do not. You can swap it for an easier day up the valley, take an e-bike and enjoy it properly, or split the group so that some of you ride and the rest have a day in the towns. It is on the menu, not on the schedule.
Yes, once, in the middle of the week. Our driver moves your luggage to the next place while you ride, so you arrive and it is already there.
April to October. June and September are our own favourite months to ride here. Which weeks suit you depends on what you want from the trip, and we will say honestly on the call.
Fifteen minutes with Susi and Benji. We will ask how you ride, how you like to travel, and when you can get here. No pitch.
Book a call Or message us on WhatsApp, or email info@epicitaly.cc