Italy Divide

Italy Divide began as a personal dream. Its founder Jack, a mountain biker for more than thirty years, left racing behind for randonnée and bikepacking and wanted an Italian answer to the American Tour Divide, with the country's beauty thrown in. The first edition ran in 2015, and it has since become one of Italy's longest-running bikepacking gatherings: riders go unsupported and at their own pace, but there is plenty of sharing at the start and at the finish camp.

The routes cross the length of the peninsula and all finish at the Bike Farm in Torbole, on the northern tip of Lake Garda. They largely follow the Via Francigena and EuroVelo 7 on gravel and quiet secondary roads: the white roads of Siena and the Chianti hills, Florence, the wild Apennine crossing to Bologna, then Mantua, Verona and the Lessinia uplands before the drop to the lake. Riders who have done it remember hilltop towns like Orvieto and Pienza, and the pici pasta and gelato stops along the way.

For 2027 the organiser has reworked every route for gravel bikes, cutting the hike-a-bike and overly technical sections that marked earlier editions. The idea is to travel light, sleep in a bivvy or a B&B, and leave the stove at home, because, as Jack likes to point out, wherever you are in Italy you can find a good place to eat.