Route 19: A ride around Isernia, Campania

Head to Campania for a motorcycle tour on some of the quietest, most stunning roads of the south

Welcome to Campania. Donkeys and dirt roads not pictured…

It’s as if the mountains never end. Every time you think you’ve seen your last hairpin, Italy rises up and surprises you, delivering more stunning roads that blend amazing scenery with brilliant riding. Especially in Campania.

Finding routes in the south was challenging though. Most of our Italian sources were born and raised in the north - and just as in the UK, there’s a bit of healthy banter between the northerners and their southern neighbours. Ask most Milanese what the riding’s like down here and they’ll tell you it’s all donkeys and dirt roads..

Then I bumped into Massimo - who cut his teeth thrashing two-stroke trailies across the hills around Isernia. Now he’s a more responsible, mature man with a more responsible, mature kind of motorcycle he sticks to the tarmac and he was kind enough to share some of his favourite roads around his old home town.

It’s definitely worth the effort of getting down here to enjoy them. True, you may meet the occasional donkey, but there’s hardly any traffic - whether on four wheels or four hooves. There’s a maze of quiet roads to explore in the hills, though we also have routes that extend to reach the sea. Whatever kind of riding you want, Campania can surprise you with the quality of its roads.

MAPS AND DOWNLOADS FOR A RIDE AROUND ISERNIA, CAMPANIA

Map of a motorcycle route in Isernia, Campania, Italy

Route 1 (our route): start/finish: Isernia. Distance: 160 miles. Riding time: 6.5 hours. Suggested stops: AM coffee: Piedimonte Matese, lunch: Colle Sannita, PM coffee: Vinchiaturo
Route one map, Route one GPX file

Route 2: Distance: 175 miles. Riding time: 6 hours. Quiet roads across the Aurunci mountains to Gaeta on the west coast
Route two map, Route two GPX file

Route 3: Distance: 175 miles. Riding time: 5.5 hours. Rolling mountain roads to San Salvo Marina on the east coast
Route three map, Route three GPX file

Please note: This page contains the route files for The RiDE Guide to motorcycle touring in Italy which came free with RiDE magazine in July 2015. These website page are not regularly updated, so please check all critical information before you travel. All route files are in .gpx format. Garmin and BMW users can download the main file, which contains all the routes and our recommended hotels as separate waypoints. TomTom users can download the individual routes and use the Tyre software to convert them. For many routes we also have Google Map links. However, as Google Maps will not plot routes over seasonally closed high Alpine passes (such as Stelvio) when they’re shut, these may not work for every route all year round.