Touring - Italian hotels bike friendly?

I toured in Germany last year, and all the hotels were great with the bikes, locking them safely every time.
How is it in Italy? I'm trying to put together a tour from Pisa to Venice.

We stayed at the Hotel Cairoli in Genoa (Is that between Pisa and Venice? Maybe...), and actually left our bikes in the lobby while we went to the Cinque Terre for three days. They were there when we got back. We were very impressed and grateful.

I've done two tours and never a problem. Sometimes you need to leave you bike in an area (say outdoors) where you would rather not leave it but never had a problem.

You might try contacting Experience Plus http://www.experienceplus.com, who used to run a Pisa to Venice (and Venice to Pisa) bike tour (they may still do so, I just haven't checked for a long time). They may be willing to advise you as to specific places to stay.

In the smaller, quieter towns I'd have no concerns about security. In towns of, say, more than 10,000 population, I'd feel better if I could store my bike out of sight in the hotel, if not locked away. While not every establishment may welcome cyclists and bicycles, you should have no problem finding accomodations that do.

In Venice, I'd stay on the Lido island and take the vaporetto (water bus) into the main islands to sightsee. Wheeled vehicles are not allowed there, and in any case there are so many canals to cross over on bridges with stairs/steps that wheeling a bike around with you would be a big pain. And I'd definitely not leave a nice bike out of my sight in Venice, no matter how beefy a lock I had.

Italy is totally friendly to bike tourists. You'll be their best friends, complete celebrities. Not to say that their idea of where your bicycle should stay overnight will always match yours -- a place where I stayed in Rome for awhile insisted that the only safe place was up on the roof, which wasn't very convenient for casual spontaneous rides. But nobody is going to think you're a freak or that your bike is a toy. Just go do it -- you'll love touring in Italy.

Bikes were never a problem in Italy.
If i couldn't keep my bike in my room there would always be a safe storage area where i could lock it up.


http://www.geocities.com/pathebikeguy/italylazio (http://www.geocities.com/pathebikeguy/italylazio)