The longest is the Apennine Bike Tour, from Altare, in Liguria, to Alia, in Sicily, 3100 km in 43 stages. The shortest is the Val Passiria Cycle Path, from Merano to San Leonardo, in South Tyrol, 20 km, to be done in a day. The most river-like is the Tiber Cycle Route, 90 km in two stages, from San Giustino to Ponte San Giovanni, in Umbria.

Terre di Mezzo has published "Ciclovie d'Italia", 100 spectacular bicycle itineraries chosen and described by Monica Nanetti and Ilaria Fiorillo (320 pages, 24.90 euros): a guide of guides, a guide to guides, a guide that selects, indicates, synthesizes, photographs, underlines and refers.

The most allegorical is the Dante Cycle Route, 230 km in four stages, from Ravenna to Florence, that is, from Romagna to Tuscany crossing the Apennines. The most maritime is the Trabocchi Green Way, 40 km in total, from Ortona to Marina di Vasto, in Abruzzo. The most southern is the Sicily Circumnavigation, 1200 km in 21 stages, with departure and arrival in Palermo.

Nanetti (author of "If I Could Do It" about the Francigena Way from Aosta to Rome, for Ultra Sport, and "Me and Lady B", an ageless journey in Europe, for Terre di Mezzo) and Fiorillo (who wrote "Bicycles and Other Happiness" for De Agostini), cycle travelers, wanted to compose "a sort of catalog of known and lesser-known possibilities" and "without any claim to be exhaustive in details".

The most metropolitan are two, AbbracciaMI around Milan, about seventy km, and AbbracciaTO around Turin, about sixty. The most international are three, the Italian Eurovelo routes, the 5 from Chiasso in Switzerland to Brindisi in Puglia, the 7 from San Candido in South Tyrol to Pozzallo in Sicily, and the 8 from Limone Piemonte to Trieste. The most railway-like is the Spoleto-Norcia route, 50 km converted from railway tracks with 19 tunnels and 24 viaducts.

The truth is that Italy is a masterpiece to be discovered by pedals (or even on foot). And this "Ciclovie d'Italia" helps to do so.