Touring - Bike rental in Italy

Hi; My wife and I will be spending a few weeks spread between Venice, Florence, Sorrento and Rome. Can one rent bikes in any of these cities? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Hello TC, Yes, bicycle rental is widely available in Italy. In Rome, Bici e Baci immediately comes to mind as do several others whose names escape me - I haven't been there for a year. That said, the desirability of bicycling in Rome is questionable. Traffic, both motor and pedestrian, can be anarchic and aggressive; the omnipresent motorscooter maniacal. (Many of the bike rentals also offer scooters, which would, at least, give you a fighting chance.) The summer heat and humidity is often extreme, and the city is most definitely built on hills. I do not believe bicycles (as are automobiles) are permitted in Venice, nor would they be terribly practical - very much a city for pedestrian and boat. Florence again presents the problems of city riding, but the Tuscan countryside is superlative. An excellent resource is the Florence Bike Pages: www.florencebikepages.com. Although cities may be problematic, the Italian countyside is quite wonderful. There are any number of tour operators offering short-term tours,
outside of Rome, Randotrek (also has rentals, incidentally) for example - www.randotrek.com.

Some useful search terms (I've used with Google very successfully): bicycle tour italy; biciclette; noleggio biciclette; biciclette affitto; biciclette affittare; roma biciclette; venezia biciclette; firenze biciclette. Buon Viaggio!

The links above should be:
www.florencebikepages.com
www.randotrek.com

Thanks...we may just try the Florence countryside...wine tasting. :)