Giro delle Colline Lucchesi — Wine Country Loop

Starting from the art capital of Pietrasanta, this route climbs into the Colline Lucchesi wine country — a gentle landscape of hilltop villages, olive groves and vineyards producing honest DOC wines. The route passes through Capezzano Monte, Monteggiori (views to die for), Pescaglia and Camaiore before returning to Pietrasanta. The hilltop village of Monteggiori at approximately km 25 deserves a long stop. The medieval village is perched on a ridge with views extending from the Ligurian coast to the Apennines. The small trattoria Le Tre Terrazze serves traditional mountain cooking — tordelli, wild boar, ribollita. Book ahead even on a cycling day. The descent from Camaiore back towards the coast offers the route's most dramatic moment: the entire Versilian coast suddenly visible below, the Apuan Alps behind, and Corsica occasionally visible on the horizon across the Ligurian Sea.