Bella Vita Italian Vacations

Italy Trips - 2010

2009-02-11T19:13:00.000-08:00

Never too early to start planning now. In 2010, Bella Vita will be offering 2 trips. The first will take place in March to coincide with the Monte Paschi Eroica 1-day classic race and the start of the Tirreno Adriatico stage race. The Monte Paschi Eroica 1-day race is held primarily on the white gravel roads around Sienna with the finish in Sienna's Piazza del Campo. Tirreno Adriatico is the quintessential Italian stage race.
The 2nd trip will take place in October for the Giro di Lombardia. This a gorgeous race around Italy's Lago di Como.
The Monte Paschi Eroica and the Giro di Lombardia have great Gran Fondo events the day before the actually race to give you a great taste of just how hard these races are.

Ciao

New Website in the works!

2008-11-19T06:22:00.000-08:00

We have starting moving everything over to the new Bella Vita Italian Vacations website. Squarespace offers more flexibility and is a bit more sophisticated than Blogger. You will still be able to access this blog directly but the www.bellavitavacations.com domain will now direct you to the new site. Ciao

2009 Giro d' Italia Trip

2008-10-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

Passo Stelvio : This is just the very top section looking back down the valley. It takes quite an effort to get this view, but well worth it.

This view can be intimidating, considering how hard it is just to get to THIS point.

Bella Vita's 2009 trip is taking shape. We have the Stage 17 summit finish near our place. We are riding over to the stage route and up the finishing climb to watch the race. We're also planning on spending a couple days in the Dolomites, near Bormio. We will ride up the passo di Stelvio from the west side, cross into Switzerland over the Umbrail Pass, and return by climbing back up the passo di Stelvio's eastern side(technically called the Stilfserjoch) . Day 2 will include the Gavia Pass and the Mortirolo (passo di Foppa). For an optional 3rd daym we can head to the East and ride the Sella Loop, which includes passo di Gardena, Campolongo, Pordoi, and Sella.

In the 2009 Giro, we could see a great battle between Ivan Basso and Lance Armstrong on the brutal slopes of the Block Haus during stage 17. Eddy Merckx blew to pieces on this rarely-used, un-relenting dead-end road in 1972(?). A few years ago I watched Basso win at Passo Lanciano, which is where the 8km dead-end road starts, leading up to the Block Haus summit. We'll ride over and join the race route and ride up this legendary climb.
After winning the Giro in '06, Basso was sidelined for most of 2007, and 2008 for "attempted doping" in the Operation Puerto fiasco. I expect him to enact some revenge in 2009. The verdict is still out on what Lance is capable of. Personally, I'd rather see him suck-it-up and play a support role for Leipheimer. He could also be a good lead-out man for some sprint wins.

Rental Contact Information

2008-08-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in renting the property in Roio del Sangro, please use the contact information below, or you may contact us directly. ciao:

Laila Pantalone
Assistente d'Ufficio
Remax People
Via Luigi De Crecchio, 12
- Galleria Imperiale-
66034 Lanciano, Chieti
tel 39(0)872.71.19.56
fax 39(0)872.70.21.99
people@remax.it

Roio del Sangro House

2008-06-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

Roio Scenery

Living Room and Guest Bedroom

Entry and Dining room

Bella Vita rides Monte Paschi Eroica's bianca strada

2008-06-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

While in Tuscany, the Bella Vita crew hit the nearby Monte Paschi Eroica course and followed to for about 2.5 hours. I hardly doubt we were riding that stuff as fast as Cancellara was a couple months ago, but it was fun to pretend. The course is marked extremely well and the gravel roads are amazingly smooth at speed.

2008-05-23T03:11:00.001-07:00

Me and Kristine made it here in one piece. Went to watch the Giro yesterday and that was awesome. Perfect weather so far. Riding has been great. Heading up to Tuscany on Monday to see Sienna and Florence.
Ciao

Slipstream Sports powered by Chipotle

2008-05-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

The Bella Vita crew will be sporting some very cool argyle swag at the Giro this year. Kristine contacted them and they hooked us up. We will be eating at Chipotle a lot more often!

Cancellara and Ballan top 2nd Monte Paschi Eroica

2008-04-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

Fabian Canellara and Alessandro Ballan ripped across the le strade bianche around Siena and sprinted into the Piazza del Campo to claim this years race. The Bella Vita crew will be in Siena in a few weeks and on many of these same roads. No trip to Siena would be complete without a gelato in the piazza! Ciao

Monte Paschi Eroica 2008 (1/2)
Uploaded by burnie87

Monte Paschi Eroica 2008 (2/2)
Uploaded by burnie87

Diluca wins Settimana Ciclista Lombarda

2008-04-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

Danilo Diluca and his LPR Brakes teamates Salvoldelli and Pietropolli ripped everybodies legs off. This video clip captures some good footage of Diluca attacking the final run into the finish of stage 6 in Bergamo. Note some of the ancient cobbles streets and amazing scenery. That run into Bergamo isn't for the timid.

6. Etappe Settimana Lombarda 2008
Uploaded by burnie87

Spring ' 08 -Giro d'Italia Trip now being Scheduled

2007-11-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

Bella Vita's "il primo giro" is scheduled for May 12th through 26th to coincide with the '08 Giro d'Italia. We will ride out to watch the finish of the Giro's first mountain stage on the brutally steep slopes up to Pescocostanzo on Friday May 16th. After a relatively flat first week, all the big guns will come on fighting on this day. It's also very fun to ride up the final climb, then watch how much faster the "laughing group" goes up it. We may also catch a point-to-point circuit race the previous day. The trip will be based out of my house located in the small mountain town of Roio del Sangro, located in the Abruzzo region of Italy. This region offers a terrific combination of high mountain wilderness and coastal shoreline. There will be plenty of fabulous road riding, hiking, fine food and wine, and history lessons about the region. Other daily excursions will include local medieval castles, tours of local pasta and olive oil factories, ect. Inquire further by contacting me at markstudnicki@gmail.com . Ciao Mark & Kristine

Team Training Camps Available

2007-11-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

In addition to the Bella Vita Italian Vacations regular guided tour/cycling camp schedule, the Bella Vita residence is also available as host accommodations for your own Team Training Camp. The town house-style residence is located in the small village of Roio Del Sangro and is situated in the mountains at around 800 meters. This area provides miles of excellent roads to train on and is just far enough off the main autostrade to provide minimum traffic, yet is close to the Adriatic Sea and major shopping centers. The roads around this region range from the flatter rolling terrain down near the Adriatic coast to the very steep Hors catorgory climbs in the adjacent Apennine Mountains. Included are the 2006 Giro finishing climb to Passo Lanciano and the famous climb to the Bloc Haus summit, at over 2100 meters. The accomations include a spacious 3 story townhouse with a roof-top balcony. A master bedroom and an individual bedroom are located on the 3rd floor. A living room is located on the 2nd floor along with separate bathing and toilet rooms. This 2nd floor living room doubles as a second master bedroom or sleeping area. The ground floor consists of the formal dining room/fireplace room and kitchen. Please email markstudnicki@gmail.com for more information regarding rates and availability.

Pictures from the Giro ' 06

2007-10-25T11:34:00.000-07:00