Top-notch active tours for small groups of friends
Cortina - The heart of the Dolomites
Cortina d'Ampezzo, long famous for its hiking and climbing, became world famous by hosting the 1956 Winter Olympics.Today, wonderful road cycling and mountain biking make Cortina a "must go" destination for active sports enthusiasts.Picture yourself riding, hiking, and mountain biking among the Dolomites' shear rock faces!
Bormio - Big Giro d'Italia Passes
The Mortirolo, Gavia, & Stelvio–These famous Giro passes challenge you with their long climbs and fast descents!Bormio's picturesque alpine setting is perfect for tackling these passes, and its quiet old town center provides a true "Italian" experience!Less famous, Bormio's hiking and MTB are equally world class!
Bellagio - Lakes and Mountains
There's nothing like the water, sky, and mountains of Lago di Como!Popular with Italians for their summer vacations, countless boats of all varieties dot the deep blue water.After cycling and hiking among the lakeside villas and gardens, we "get out on the water," with a ferry ride back to our hotel!
Massa/Carrara - The Italian Riviera
Wonderful biking and hiking around the Apli Apuane marble quarries of Michelangelo fame!Appearing snow-capped in summer, due to the bright-white marble, we hike and bike trails and roads built over 2000 years!With a scant 5 Km between alpi and mare–and the beach–our apres sport is a nap in the sun, and a dip in the Mediterranean!
Italy has wonderful biking, hiking, and mountain biking, there is no doubt! But Italy is more than just a great country for our biking and hiking experience, as Italy's culture is vibrant and alive, with a colorful and creative history stretching back thousands of years!Everything about being in Italy on an Altaquota Adventures tour is designed to combine your hikes and rides with a taste of Italian culture! We hike among the quarries above Massa and Carrara, where more than 500 years ago Michelangelo came to select the marble blocks which became his famous sculptures.If we look closely while we hike, we can see how the marble workers have improved the trail over the centuries, carving steps in the solid marble of our trail. On a hike or ride we might stop to gaze at the enormous scale of a marble quarry, noting each level that has been removed, and wonder how many centuries have past since the top level was cut.The Fantiscritti quarries, pictured at right, along with the many other quarries in the Massa-Carrara area of Italy, are an integral part of our daily rides and hikes, as over the centuries, virtually every possible location has been investigated for its quality of stone and color, leaving many old abandoned quarries. Fantiscritti also has an extremely interesting Museo all’aperto (outdoor museum) of the history of marble quarrying, which exhibits how the quarry workers lived their lives over the ages, how marble blocks were cut and moved, and the evolution of the equipment used.
One of the Fantiscritti marble quarries above Carrara, Italy. Note that some 15 levels have been cut from the mountain, and that the layer height is much larger for the two bottom–the most recent– layers, coinciding with improvements in technology.
Just 35 Km south of Massa, Pisa, Italy, a busy university city, is home to the Leaning Tower (La Torre Pendente) and well worth a visit. When you are there, take a look at all the other less-famous towers in Pisa, perhaps they lean too?
La Luminara di San Ranieri: 70,000 candles outline the windows along the Arno river in Pisa, Italy, to celebrate the patron saint. (Information about the Luminara, Pisa, Italy)
Bellagio, Italy, right at the tip of the peninsula separating the two arms of Lake Como, has been an important vacation resort since Roman times. The Villa Melzi garden near Bellagio, while well know to tourists, is often overlooked by the sports minded, who are quite reasonably enjoying the hiking and biking along the Lago di Como lake shore, and in the surrounding mountains. However, again it's not to be missed, and can easily be visited on a rainy day, umbrella in hand, or in addition to the day's ride or hike.
Inside one of the greenhouses on the Villa Melzi grounds. Lots of work is necessary to keep these beautiful gardens fourishing. This greenhouse is quite old, and is covered with small panes of glass (about 12" square), in an overlapped, fish-scale pattern.
Cortina d'Ampezzo, long famous for its hiking and climbing, became world famous by hosting the 1956 Winter Olympics.Today, wonderful road cycling and mountain biking make Cortina a "must go" destination for active sports enthusiasts.Picture yourself riding, hiking, and mountain biking among the Dolomites' shear rock faces!
The Mortirolo, Gavia, & Stelvio–These famous Giro passes challenge you with their long climbs and fast descents!Bormio's picturesque alpine setting is perfect for tackling these passes, and its quiet old town center provides a true "Italian" experience!Less famous, Bormio's hiking and MTB are equally world class!
There's nothing like the water, sky, and mountains of Lago di Como!Popular with Italians for their summer vacations, countless boats of all varieties dot the deep blue water.After cycling and hiking among the lakeside villas and gardens, we "get out on the water," with a ferry ride back to our hotel!
Wonderful biking and hiking around the Apli Apuane marble quarries of Michelangelo fame!Appearing snow-capped in summer, due to the bright-white marble, we hike and bike trails and roads built over 2000 years!With a scant 5 Km between alpi and mare–and the beach–our apres sport is a nap in the sun, and a dip in the Mediterranean!
