We'd like to do this ride and have mapped with help from bikemap.com.
But I can't find any recommended ride or route like this.
Most of the Italy routes seem to be on the east coast or Tuscany.
Does anyone have any thought/suggestions?
It will be our first Italian tour though we have ridden several times in France and Spain where there are quiet minor roads.
Is this the problem in Italy? Only major, busy roads?
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Try Google maps "street view" to preview various roads to "preview" them. I checked into exactly what your talking about and found it to be favorable.

Try the eurovelo routes.

Thanks. The Italian Eurovelo route seems still to be undeveloped.
We have ridden several others and agree that they are a good starting point.

A long time ago I biked from Florence to Nice, then into the Alps. The portion from Genoa to Nice was unpleasant due to constant heavy traffic and over-development all along the Italian and French Rivieras. Perhaps a decent bike-friendly alternative exists now, but I simply don't know. If one does not exist, I would urge against riding that route.

Rural Italy in the south was quite pleasant, but never flat.

A quick look via bRouter suggests the following (below) : Marseille to Antibes inland, to Sestri Levante along the Mediterranean coast, inland to Roma.

The route is roughly 1 000 Kms in length, with 8 000+ meters of ascent.

(bRouter has an Android version)

Forgot to mention they also provide a link to Bicitalia, the most comprehensive bike route website available for Italy. Unfortunately it is only in Italian.
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Tks all

Looking at the map, I suddenly came up with what I think is a great solution. Take a ferry from Marseille to Corsica. Bike on Corsica, a superb place to tour. (avoid the east coast; it's the only boring part of Corsica) Corsica is much more enjoyable than either the French or Italian Rivieras, IMO. Then take a ferry from southern Corsica to Sardinia. I haven't toured on Sardinia but have heard good things about it. From Sardinia, you can get another ferry to near Rome.