Originally Posted by CMAW

You can't go wrong with Tuscany but take a look at Puglia, roughly the triangle Bari-Matera-Lecce with incredible places to visit and an impressive coast-line. I agree that Italian roads can be tricky and sometimes insane (both the infrastructure and the drivers) but my experience in Puglia riding backroads was pretty good (coming from the Naples region it actually felt like a big relief). Weather is hit or miss it seems nowadays but you should be even better off in the south. Same goes for Spain, why not visit places that are scorched in high summer, like Andalucia (the flatter part in the west) or even Extremadura, less populated but has fantastic towns and villages. If you choose Valencia you could ride the via verde de Ojos Neros to Teruel (old rail trail), which will take you deep into the Sierras without the hard work. These via verdes are found allover Spain, so wherever you go it's worth looking them up. If you really want to go to the Provence just do it, the odds against mistral are much better. Worst case scenario, you take a westbound train to Toulouse and start touring from there (along Canal du midi for instance).