ITALY’S FINEST TARMAC
Find yourself hankering for an epic drive? This is where you need to go
DOLOMITES 1
By all means do the Stelvio Pass because it’s the famous one. But once you’ve scrabbled up the 46 hairpins, taken in the (admittedly astonishing) views and realised the only good bit to drive is the top section, head east. These are the names to look for: Valparola, Falzarego, Giau, Pordoi. None is as tall, none is as well known, so none is as busy. Still, best to get up early to avoid the cyclists. The scenery here is unlike anything else across the Alps, because the geology is different. Maybe base yourself in Cortina d’Ampezzo – it’s where For Your Eyes Only was filmed. You can copy us, follow in Roger Moore’s footsteps and wonder why on earth they didn’t film a car chase across these magnificent roads.
AMALFI COAST 2
The thing about driving in Italy is it’s not all about haring around with your tyres on fire. Sometimes it’s more important to relax, kick back and drink the experience in. Now. There are two sides to the Amalfi Coast experience: the views, the romance, the charm, the twinkling sea, the villages, the ice cream and coffee; and there’s the other side. You want the first side. Ideally in an Alfa Spider or something else small and slow. Ideally with excellent crash protection. Because actually driving the Amalfi Coast road... well it’s narrow, the cliff drops are measured in weeks, and the most breathtaking thing of all is the risks the locals take. Take a brave pill and venture out during the evening.
GRAN SASSO 3
Italy has a mountainous spine. Inland from Rome is where it reaches its highest peak – the 2,912m Corno Grande. The area that surrounds it is the Gran Sasso national park, a high central plateau to which no one comes. It’s a bit of a mystery really. Less than 100 miles from Rome, but too southerly for much skiing, too bare and barren for much besides sheep and cattle grazing, too far from the thrill centres of the Alps to summon cyclists and drivers. As a result it is massively worth making the detour here. The main draw is the fast and flowing SS17 and the roads that fall from it, heading south. If you fancy a wriggle, in the north you’ll find Lake Campotosto. Wide views, not many trees, very few people.
TUSCANY 4
Think Amalfi Coast, but without the sea and stress. This is important. People expect coastal Italy to be a gentle waft along, a rolling tribute to Sophia Loren, but the reality is more hectic. Don’t get me wrong, Tuscany is busy, but there’s not the same appetite for chaotic overtaking with visibility this good. You’re freer to potter through Tuscany, soak up the experience. Head to the Val d’Orcia for maximum wine and landscape, or almost any of the astonishing fortified hilltop villages (Montepulciano, San Gimignano, Volterra) to drink in history and atmos. OK, it’s more a saunter than a drive, in high summer it’s very hot and the kids won’t appreciate it. Autumnal week away with your partner it is then.
SARDINIA 5
Nope, not on mainland Italy, but bear with me. It sits just south of (French) Corsica, and we know how amazing the roads there are thanks to the Tour de Corse WRC tarmac rally, which is colloquially known as ‘the rally of 10,000 turns’. Sardinia doesn’t have the same history of rallying, but that just means you’re less likely to find other hotshoes doorhandling about in hire cars. The twistiest roads are on the more mountainous east side. The only thing to bear in mind if you’ve left your family on a beach somewhere for the day so you can abuse the rental, is that it takes an awfully long time to get anywhere. I don’t care if you’re Gilles Panizzi, Sardinia is bigger than you think and the roads are tight.