I don't remember disliking ANY place in Italy! It's so beautiful, and the cycling is excellent. Towns are close together and the people are friendly to cyclists. It's been about 20 years since I was there, so obviously things may have changed (roads gotten busier, especially) but I did a cycling tour for a couple of months in the spring, just toodling around mostly in central Italy. Getting up to some of the hill towns can be a challenge to your legs, but most of the roads stick to valleys and are pleasant and easy, and on the climbs to the towns you are nicely distracted by scenery that looks like it's straight out of a Renaissance painting.

Bologna is very nice--a really vibrant city that doesn't feel as touristy as Florence and Venice, and isn't overwhelming like Rome. I also loved Verona. It's a small city/large town with gorgeous Roman ruins (and in better shape than most of the ones in Rome) and a very liveable feel. For hill towns I liked Urbino and Orvieto best, but I didn't make it to Siena (idiot that I am). The only place I just felt like wasn't worth the hype was Pisa. I was only in the eastern most part of the lake district (went around the southern half of Lake Garda), which I think isn't as scenic as Lake Como. I was there right around Easter, so it was before the tourist season had begun and a lot of places were closed. It was pretty, but the towns on that lake weren't that interesting. It struck me as pretty much like any other resort area in the world on the off season (quiet, lots of boarded up ice cream places). I remember that I hit my highest speed ever going into one of the towns around the lake. Stupid that I can remember that detail but couldn't tell you which town it was I was headed into!

Sarah