*ANDIAMO!* Galfromdownunder Bikes Across Italy with Ciclismo Classico

Imagine pedaling your Friday through the lush, rolling countryside of Italia, nosing your front wheel along cobbled streets of tiny villages bursting with with cheese, wine and designer shoe stores, sitting down to a gourmet multi-course wine dinner at the end of each day, laying your weary helmet in grand, four star historic hotels and charming old world albergos ...

Cicilismo Classico (CC, pronounced 'Cheek-LEEZ-mo') is a Boston-based company specializing in this heightened level of cycle touring. There are a number of operators in this niche but as I found, CC strikes a good balance between sufficiently challenging miles and guilt-free pampered luxury at day's end.

Because CC has been recommended by several Bike Friday customers, and principal Lauren Hefferon recently joined the fold herself by acquiring a Pocket Rocket Pro, the company has earned its coveted place as a Friday Friendly Tour Company.

In 2007, an Outside Magazine article "Best Trips. Ever." named CC's 'Giro del Gelato' tour as their Trip of the Year - a very prestigious accolade.

The Galfromdownunder was privileged to review one of the company's most popular tours: Bike Across Italy.

Spanning 'the mid-calf to the mid-shin' of the boot of Italy over ten days, this moderately challenging tour takes in the regions of La Marche, Umbria, Tuscany and Lazio, starting in Fano on Adriatic sea and ending in Porto Ecole on the Mediterranean. The average mileage is about 50 gradually hilly miles per day.

What, never heard of those places? If you travel with CC you'll discover there's more to Italy than Rome, Florence and the Vatican. I chose the May 10-20 departure of Bike Across Italy (BAI) because I was told May is warm but not yet sweltering. Perhaps due to global warming the temperature was hotter than usual; it had been a low-snow season across Europe, said our guides, Dana and Andrea.

The CC website is comprehensive, with a handy feature that lets you select tours by season, region, and the tantalizing 'Tours No One Else Has'. This is a day by day account of the tour as seen by a cyclist of moderate fitness - what CC might rate as 'Athletic Beginner' to 'Intermediate'. The tour is rated intermediate, averaging around 30-50 miles per day. Andiamo!

Some highlights of a CC tour:

* Luxury tours offering three and four star accommodations - you choose what level of tour.

* Beginner to Advanced cycling level

* Full minivan support to transport your gear - and you - to a different hotel each night (in the case of this trip - other trips linger for 2 nights at some locations). There's no shame on a CC tour if you want to smell more roses and less burning rubber.

* Breakfasts and dinners included, lunches on your own, as many cyclists prefer to snack and keep riding.

* Dinners are pre-designed, multi-course gourmet tasting menus typical to the region; no humdrum pizza-and-spaghetti 'tourist menus'

* Optional wine kitty at under 150 Euro for the trip; regional wines chosen to complement the meals and explained by our guides

* Shipping your bike cases to the finish included, if you elected to bring your own bike

* Experienced local guides who speak excellent English

* Use of quality Bianchi bicycles with carbon forks and small trunk bag included, at your option

* Bonus extras like Italian mini lessons, route extensions fully escorted route extensions (extra loop-e) with commentary, rest day in fantastic medieval town of Gubbio to get all caught up in the famous annual local festival, teh Candle Race

Things I loved:

* The Gubbio 2-night immersion in the madness of La Festa dei Ceri (Candle Race)

* The stellar hotels and meals right in the thick of history

* A wine tasting like I've never experienced before ... where have I been all my life?

* The perfect al fresco meal beside Lake Bolsena

* The bizarro 'dead city' of Civita - if that place doesn't capture your imagination, nothing will

* Excellent guides who are walkin', wheelin' Wiki's of all things Italia

* Those map holders on the Bianchi standard issue bikes are ingenious! I want one!