Interviews with Italian bikepacking pioneers
Highlights
• The first book of this kind
• 20 Italian regions
• 25+ bikepacking events organizers
• 135 questions and answers
• 20+ photos
Overview
“Beyond the Italy Divide” is a collection of interviews with Italian bikepacking pioneers with all kinds of bikes: gravel, MTB, road, and an attempt to informally summarize a decade of the movement’s development in Italy (~2014–2024). Moreover, it is a book about enthusiasm, creativity and freedom in any endeavor be it sport, education, social projects and others.
The title refers to the main bikepacking event covering the whole country, from Naples to lake Garda, but with the book you immediately go far beyond it, through all 20 regions. Organizers of popular and little-known regional events: Amos Cardia (Sardinia Divide), Juliana Buhring (Two Volcano Sprint), Andrea Borchi (Tuscany Trail), Tazio Chiomio (Piemont Gravel), Andrea Securo (Veneto Trail)… talk about everything but the technical details of the routes. It’s a human story, not a classic guide to traveling on a bicycle in Italy. It is an Italian bikepacking in the first person, not the third.
The book is aimed both at those who are already passionate about bikepacking and those who are just about to try this trendy sport. It will also be of interest to any modern traveler, not only on a bike, because they could see the country from an unusual angle. Not least of all, it is a book for anyone who plan to make their own event or something creative and properly communicate with the community that will inevitably emerge from it.
At the end of the ride, you always come back different, tired, but enriched with something that, at that moment, you cannot even understand right away.
— Domenico Errigo, organizer of All Round Calabria (ARC) and other events in the region
Authors
Ivan Kuznetsov is an outdoor journalist, editor and writer. He is also a co-founder of the Panoramica creative studio. The son of a member of the USSR youth cycling team, he started cycling in March 2013 in Lamon, 600 m, the Belluno Dolomites, Veneto, where the final stages of the 2019 Giro d’Italia took place, on an old mountain bike without rear brakes: there were no other bikes. At that time he was volunteering on a year-long project with Legambiente, the largest environmental association in Italy. As a journalist, he has conducted more than 300 interviews with various famous and local people on travel, outdoors, creativity, communities and other related topics. Thanks to the internet, his work for leading media and blogs, and his other books and projects, spans the globe.
Irina Kudres is an outdoor photographer, photojournalist and visual storyteller, co-founder of Panoramica creative studio. She started cycling in May 2019 in Lamon with Ivan. The list of their bikepacking adventures includes road, MTB, and gravel rides to Campo Imperatore in Abruzzo, Strade Bianche in Tuscany, Via Claudia Augusta in Veneto, Via Francigena and Via Appia in Lazio and Campania, all five large lakes of Northern Italy, as well as various cycle ways, such as the one in Brembana valley in Lombardy. As a beginner journalist, with this book she created her first major work, but she has recorded individual interviews and short series before, working on other projects about startups, well-being, and professional migration.
Miriam De Falco is a translator, subtitler, interpreter and teacher with a master’s degree in English and Chinese from the University of International Studies in Rome (UNINT).
All formats
Contents
Authors
Map
Overview
Introduction
1. Islands
Amos Cardia, Sardinia Divide
Stefano La Sala, Trail del Barocco Sicily
2. South
Domenico Errigo, All Round Calabria
Alfredo Russo, Salento Trail Apulia
Simon Laurenzana, Basilicata Bike Trail
Juliana Buhring, Two Volcano Sprint
Maurizio Storani, Molise Trail
Maurizio Scardetta, Abruzzo Trail MAGS
3. Center
Riccardo La Bella, Trail dei Papi Lazio
Alessandra Cristalli, Vic Bikepacking Marche
Lorenzo Sensi, Augh Umbria Bikepacking
Andrea Borchi, Tuscany Trail
4. Northwest
Fabio del Becaro, Liguria Bike Trail
Alessandro Ippolito, Piemonte Nord Ovest Divide
Tazio Chiomio, Piemont Gravel
Valerio Fava and Serena Curno, 150 S-miles Piedmont
Paolo Ciaberta, Erratico Gravel Canavese
Marco Nicoletti, Aosta Tour dei Rü
Gianluca Gravino, Gerundium Trail Lombardy
5. North-East
Roberto Malandrino, Emilia Gravel
Giovanni Toldo, Nulla di Gravel Trentino
Raphael Albrecht, Sneak Peaks Dolomites-Triglav
Andrea Securo, Veneto Trail
Stefano Ferigo, Inchino al Friuli
6. Italy
Paolo Laureti, Empire Lands Across Italy
Giacomo Bianchi, Italy Divide
Afterword by Andrea Benesso, BAM! Festival
Letter of intent
Glossary
Photographs
Reference
Acknowledgements
Catalog
Press
Questions and answers about mountains from the book (Ita) — Altitudini.it
Why read “Oltre l’Italy Divide”. Review (Ita) — Lifeintravel.it
Eleven books about bikes and cycle touring for holidays 2024–2025 (Ita) — Bikeitalia.it
Reviews
Thanks to this book, I discovered regional events that I had never heard of, such as Sardinia Divide or Nulla di Gravel Trentino.
— Filippo Graglia, an aerospace engineer and the author of the book “A Toubabou on the horizon: 25,000 km of emotions by bike”, Turin
A must-read to understand the many motivations behind trail and gravel events, and bikepacking in general.
— Tiberio Cavicchiolo, one of the organizers of Veneto Trail, Tezze sul Brenta, Vicenza, Veneto
Give yourself this gift! A pleasant, flowing, fast and highly inspiring book. Very clearly written, not the usual book with technical data, km, altitude difference, but a real journey to discover what lies behind the world of bikepacking.
— Elisa Roux, a photographer and cyclotourist around Annapurna, Nepal, and other routes, Turin
It’s a fantastic collection of stories that skillfully intertwine passion and volunteering, adventure and courage.
— Sebastiano Venneri, territory and innovation manager at Legambiente, creator and editor of the annual “Guide to the most beautiful sea” (“Guida al mare più bello”, Touring Club Italiano, 2001–2024), Rome
Congratulations on everything you have been doing, and especially on the quality of your content. All very professional. Well done.
— Teddy Soppelsa, former communications director of Aku Shoes, founder of Altitudini.it, Cesiomaggiore, Belluno, Veneto
I don’t intend to organize events (too complex), but I’d like to support quality tourism. The book will certainly give me some interesting ideas.
— Stefano Tarticchio, the founder of the bike frame manufacturer Arteforma (brands Dësgenà and Ciclitorino), Turin
It is a non classic reference for those who practice bikepacking in Italy.
— Sergio Borroni, doctor and cycling tourism enthusiast with more than 50 trips to more than 100 countries, Milan
“Beyond the Italy Divide” is about people before it’s about bikes. The book is a pleasure to read and represents a union of stories that can be read in one go or sipped drop by drop.
— Leonardo Corradini, founder of the website and community Lifeintravel.it, Trento
My compliments for the initiative.
— Gualtiero Wally Rossano, trip leader of FolloWally Community and randonneur, Turin
It makes you want to get on your bike and set off to discover each of those routes. To read slowly and enjoy, region after region, interview after interview. As a cycle traveler I highly recommend it!
— Giulia Macario, pharmacy director and cycle activist, from Bergamo — Milan
Read the detailed reviews and many others (Italian), and get inspired for your bikepacking adventure in Italy.
All data
• Title: Beyond the Italy Divide: Interviews with Italian bikepacking pioneers
• Authors: Ivan Kuznetsov, Irina Kudres
• Publisher: Panoramica
• Date of publication: June 2026
• Language: English
• Translation from Italian to English: Ivan Kuznetsov
• Ebook: Kindle, Epub, with an illustration and 22 color photographs
• Paper book: hardcover and paperback, 260 pages, 182.8 x 274.3 cm (6 x 9 in), glossy cover, creamy paper, b&w print with an illustration and 22 photographs
• ISBNs:
• Print run: print-on-demand
• Foreign rights: available for purchase for all languages, countries and formats
This book is also available in Italian.
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