The round trip begins on the Umbrail Pass, heads south through the Alps and the Po Valley, climbs through the Apennines to the tip of the boot. It then crosses the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and finishes by travelling north from Genoa along the Ticino Canal to Lake Maggiore. Landmarks on the peninsula are the cities of Tirano, Brescia, Bologna, Perugia, Avezzano, Benevento, Sala Consilina, Cosenza, Vibo Valentia and Villa San Giovanni. In Sicily, the route goes from Messina via Enna to Palermo. Sardinia is travelled through from Cagliari via Sorgono, Nuoro, Sassari to Porto Torres. At the end, back on the mainland, it goes from Genoa via Mortara and Abbiategrasso, first following two canals, then the lakeshore to Brissago. Italy has twenty regions, this Giro leads through fourteen of them.
After the journey from the Alps, you can roll along the River Po for a short time and prepare yourself for the challenging Apennine rollercoaster that begins behind Bologna and leads over dozens of passes. The further south you go, the less traffic and infrastructure there is and the more powerful nature grows. For days you drive through olive groves, vineyards and grain fields, and then suddenly you find yourself in a wild mountain jungle.
In contrast, every few days you reach the most beautiful towns for a break. The roads are consistently good, but the tunnels are often poorly lit. The loneliest and wildest are Sicily and Sardinia, where there are also many motorcyclists on the road.
