Hi koreansteve,
if you plan to bike some mountain stages, too, you can visit my homepage (use english version).
There were never any problems (you must avoid auto stradas / highways, but there are enough small roads) in Italy, even in the Alps. Northern Po plane is a bit boring in summer, because the are corn fields on both sides of the road and you will not see anything else for hundreds of km...

I prefer using a trailer like this one below.

My special advice:
Korsika is the finest place I've ever been. You can easily reach it by ferry from many italian harbours. If you decide for such an excursion, I can give many further advices.

marmotte