Route Naples → Matera → Alberobello → Lecce → Santa Maria di Leuca → Calabria coast → Messina ferry → Taormina → Etna → Catania → Siracusa → Noto Distance 1800 km, plus the Messina ferry Duration 10 days, ~45 hours in the saddle
9 overnight stops, a rest day at Matera or Etna Best Months Late April to June, or September to mid-October
July and August are too hot and too crowded World Heritage The Sassi of Matera
The Trulli of Alberobello
Mount Etna
Syracuse and the Necropolis of Pantalica
The Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto Parks & Protected Areas Alta Murgia National Park
Parco dell'Etna
Pollino and Aspromonte, skirted
The Ionian coast Signature Roads The Basilicata badlands into Matera
The Salento coast, Otranto to Gallipoli
The SP92 up Etna to Rifugio Sapienza
The Ionian coast road to Taormina

Route Map

Open in Google Maps The Plan

Ten days down the length of the mezzogiorno and across to Sicily, one way. The cave city of Matera, the trulli of Puglia, the baroque of Lecce, then the long Calabrian coast to the ferry at Messina. Sicily to finish: up the SP92 through Etna's lava fields, and the golden stone of the Val di Noto. It rides better as a line than a loop. And Sicily is entered the way it always has been — by sea.

Notes

The Messina ferry runs around the clock, every twenty minutes or so, and takes bikes without a booking – ride up to the booth at Villa San Giovanni and buy a ticket. It is the only crossing you need; the rest is all road.

Watch the limited-traffic zones. The old centres of Lecce, Matera, Catania, Siracusa and Noto are camera-enforced; park outside and walk, or the fine arrives by post months later. Etna's weather turns fast even in summer, and the SP92 or the cable car can shut on ash or eruption, so check locally before the climb.

Ride it in late spring or autumn. Inland Basilicata, Puglia and Sicily bake through July and August, and the coast towns are full. All paved, all the way – any road or adventure bike, with a wary eye for volcanic grit on the Etna hairpins.