Maps of unpaved roads in Tuscany

[Mr. Pink]

I will be spending three weeks in Tuscany Oct./Nov., based at an AirB&B in Siena. This may elicit gasps from many, but, this is far from primarily a cycling trip. (By the end of October, I could use a few weeks off). First priority is photography. We're renting a car, have a gated private parking spot, and we will be striking out to a 1-1.5 hour radius from Siena to explore, plus, there's a walk to train to Firenze. We've been there before, but hardly for such a long period.

Well, since photography is priority one, and the girllfriend isn't much of a biker, but, adventurous, I was thinking e-bike on the blanche strada, and, well, away from traffic roads as a cool way to get around. There are many for rent in a few places. Or, e- bike for her, gravel bike for me. I have a few cool backpacks for this, with hydration.

Are there good maps that differentiate paved and unpaved? I have Michelin, they are useless. The Eroica site is even kinda lame, even for the permanent course, which, of course, we will be on. Good sources?

[Ozz]

I did a quick web search and found this: https://www.bikemap.net/

It seems to have both road and mtb routes listed...

[Mr. Pink]

Yeah, plenty of modern mapping sites, downloadable, but, what I'm looking for is one that tells me dirt vs paved.

[Ken Robb]

Don't the Hampstens lead tours in that area?

[dmurphey]

You should look for the old L'Eroica routes from recent years, the medium and long go close to or cross over the outside of Sienna.

[martl]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Are there good maps that differentiate paved and unpaved? I have Michelin, they are useless. The Eroica site is even kinda lame, even for the permanent course, which, of course, we will be on. Good sources?

The 1:200000ish road maps which are excellent for road cycling won't give that kind of detail, thats correct. The italian L.A.C. creates smaller scale maps (1:110000, 1:50000 etc.) which are printed by various publishers i believe. "Global map" has them, freytag&berndt, possibly others. They are usually best to be bought locally, many newsagents ("Sali&Tabacchi") will stock them.

I have no personal experience with them in that particular neck of the woods, but such maps usually depict paved/unpaved roads differently and are of good quality.

[smontanaro]

Originally Posted by Ozz

I did a quick web search and found this: https://www.bikemap.net/

It seems to have both road and mtb routes listed...

I realize that's not quite what Mr. Pink wants, but just to complete the thought, I stumbled on https://cycle.travel/ recently. Here are a few suggestions it came up with for Siena.

(Hoping to get to Italy for some riding in the not-too-distant future myself.)

[merckxman]

There are gpx files of the permanet Eroica route here https://eroica.cc/en/gaiole/permanent-route
Maybe that is helpful.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by smontanaro

I realize that's not quite what Mr. Pink wants, but just to complete the thought, I stumbled on https://cycle.travel/ recently. Here are a few suggestions it came up with for Siena.

(Hoping to get to Italy for some riding in the not-too-distant future myself.)

That's pretty cool, with that paved/not paved button.

Of course, my best resource will probably be the shops I rent from. There's one on the south side of Siena, close to the Eroica course, and one at the start up in Gaiole in Chianti. The latter has to be a pretty cool shop, I'm guessing. I'll report back with pics.

[Mr. Pink]

Just to add in case somebody is searching for this down the line, I ordered three maps of Tuscany from Amazon, and the best for this is the National Geographic Adventure Travel Map of Tuscany. Doesn't actually tell me paved and unpaved, but, something close, I assume, and also shows me "trails", or hiking paths that I think some can easily be done with the right bike. Nice thick, coated paper, too, that seems to be damn durable. Parks and viewpoints, too. Definitely made for the road less traveled fan.

[basilic]

Also, the italian "Touring Editore" road maps, 1:200'000. Yellow is paved, white is dirt, and mostly accurate ime. Nice quality graphics, a must if you are a map aficionado. It says www.touringclub.com on the maps, but the link was rated suspect by my browser.

[smontanaro]

Originally Posted by basilic

Also, the italian "Touring Editore" road maps, 1:200'000. Yellow is paved, white is dirt, and mostly accurate ime. Nice quality graphics, a must if you are a map aficionado. It says www.touringclub.com on the maps, but the link was rated suspect by my browser.

Looks like that's also on Amazon. I searched for "italian Touring Editore road map". First hit.

Thanks for the suggestions. Will be useful to have to focus my dream.

[verticaldoug]

https://gravelmap.com/route/61150-ra...9998,11,hybrid