We Are Your Italian Cycling Tour Specialists
“Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life”
At A’QTO, we live and breathe the dream that is Italy.
Enchanted by the Italian way of life, its people, food and local cultures, its characters and attitudes, and of course, its diverse roads and landscapes, our love of Italy’s rich tapestry is what we share with you on our Italian cycling tours.
We take you behind the tourist curtain and open up doors for you to immerse and experience the Italy we know and love – to ride and challenge yourself on roads that take you off the beaten path, to connect with the people and share their table like family, and to absorb the very local spirit, food and wine culture of the places we stay.
From the northern regions to the south, our Italian cycling tours provide small groups of cyclists and their non riding partners with authentic opportunities that they may never discover on their own and with a level of detail, passion and adventure that guarantees lasting memories.
Whether you’re seeking challenging rides across the mountainous terrain of the Alps and Dolomites, undulating hills and gravel roads in Tuscany, Piedmont and the Veneto, the exhilaration of iconic Italian cycling events such as the Giro d’Italia and the Gran Fondos of L’Eroica and Fausto Coppi, or the simple pleasure of traversing the open landscapes of Puglia for a true Italian cycling holiday, A’QTO takes you on a riding and culinary adventure like no other.
Let us share with you the magic and romance of Italy as we live and know it.
Challenge and Reward
An Italian Adventure with A’QTO is all about the challenge, both physical and mental, and the reward, both delicious and well earned. Work and play. Ascend and descend. Hot and cool. Fast and slow.
It is the contradiction of the experiences that elevate them to be more than they could ever be on their own.
The challenge of climbing some of Italy’s biggest mountains that make up the Giro or traversing the continually rolling hills of Piedmont, are then matched with the well earned reward of a long lunch on a Tuscan terrace or an utterly unique and rustic dinner in a well hidden, family run osteria in Puglia, with hospitality that you long for.
Off the beaten path
Whether it’s the regions we select, the blend of daily rides we design, or the mix of experiences that come together to form a week long Italian cycling tour, our focus is always on striving to create something different. It’s easy in Italy to enjoy a great ride, or have a good pizza or pasta with a good glass of wine, but to experience something different, unexpected, and totally enjoyable, takes travelling with people who have trusted relationships and a sense of adventure in everything they do.
For us, that sense of adventure guides us to create an awesome ride, really interesting and magnificent gastronomic experiences, and through our relationships, be aware of what’s possible. It’s about going the extra mile, riding the extra few km’s or taking the extra time to always enjoy a better, more rewarding experience that nearly always is ‘off the beaten path’.
A very local experience
From the carefully selected ride routes, accommodation styles and their locations, to the incredible attention to detail that goes into providing a varied, interesting and authentic food and wine experience, your journey with us on our Italian cycling tours, will be truly local.
That’s because we work very closely with our ride partners, accommodation hosts and restaurants we visit. Together, we design ride routes, create menus and select wines with the restaurants we trial, re-test and trust, and include home cooked meals at our villas and farmhouses, where you can join in the visit to the market, the picking from the organic vegetable garden or the cooking (as much or as little as you like!) – because there’s nothing quite like being part of the local fabric of life in Italy, which is so often expressed through food and wine, and the sharing of conversation around the one table.
Inclusive of riders and non-riding partners
We appreciate that a cycling tour to Italy is often part of a longer holiday to Europe with partners. That’s why we’ve created a standard with our tours where non-riding partners are always welcome, but more than that, they get to enjoy a tailored non-riding program, hosted by Nancy.
From sightseeing to city tours, cooking classes and market tours, hiking, walking and enjoying outdoor experiences in nature, we design the non-riding partner program to be culturally diverse and to reflect the best of the regions we visit.
Riders and non-riding partners share all breakfasts, dinners and long lunch experiences (where applicable), making it an inclusive and shared experience for all.
