The Belvedere Hotel specializes in biking with its own rental shop, tour guides and mechanics. After a few days in Bologna, I joined a group at the Belvedere for celebrating a friend’s 70th birthday. This was during '“wine week” so on two of the days cyclists from most groups gathered at a vineyard and a winery where the eats, wine and limoncello were outstanding. The food at the Belvedere was also incredible, included in the price along with wine at dinner. Our group tended to gather after the ride and have a few beers or martinis at the bar (not included). Each day offers various levels of cycling, from the leisure group (easy with lots of stops and sightseeing) to the race group (hard!). Most of our group did the panorama tours (about in the middle of difficulty) which offered plenty; climbs and swift descents with lengths varying from 38 to 52 miles, taking in the countryside and transiting many towns and villages including cobblestone streets and castles.

I produced the following video for Jon, the birthday boy, so included photos of members of our party; basically of little interest to the casual viewer. However, this video does capture the party atmosphere and includes one of the downhills, along with snippets of the countryside whilst riding.