Riding Enduro in Italy

Italy has everything from Alpine passes to Apennine ridges and island tracks. The country's world championship round, Abestone Hard Enduro, runs in the Apennines at Abetone and Val di Luce. Its routes wind through mountains, forests, streams and technical rock sections, says the official site. Hell's Gate, Italy's long-running extreme race, was held at Il Ciocco in the hills above Barga, in the province of Lucca.

Italian trail riding is more restricted than it looks. The Trans Euro Trail, a network of mapped dirt routes, runs 3,532 km through Italy. Its summary for riders on its routes: it is illegal to ride on open land, footpaths and singletrack. Some protected areas ban off-road riding entirely, and some routes need a local permit.

So Italian enduro means legal dirt roads, events, and tracks.

Tuscany: Abetone and the Apennines

Abetone and Val di Luce host Abestone. The organiser, Michele Bosi, is a hard enduro rider who has raced Red Bull Romaniacs and Erzbergrodeo. The event runs classes for riders from elite to first-timers (Abestone).

Tuscany: Il Ciocco (Barga, Lucca)

Il Ciocco is a sports venue at Castelvecchio Pascoli, a village in the comune of Barga in the Serchio Valley (Wikipedia). It hosted Hell's Gate, with a prologue near the Il Ciocco Hotel and an arena for the final sprint (ADB Magazine). It also hosted the 1991 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships.

Lombardy and Piedmont

The heart of Italian classic enduro. The 6DAYS was based in Lombardy and Piedmont in 2021 and around Bergamo in 2025, and Italy won the World Trophy both times (ISDE records). Piedmont allows wild camping for up to 48 hours in remote places, per the Trans Euro Trail.

Sardinia

Sardinia hosted the 6DAYS in 2013. The TET's Sardinian route follows legal forest roads under a regional forestry decree.

Abestone Hard Enduro (FIM Hard Enduro World Championship)

Abestone was round 5 of the 2026 world championship, on 4–6 September at Abetone. It moved from its original July date and was renamed from Abestone Rodeo Miravalle (FIM).

Manuel Lettenbichler won on a KTM 300 EXC. He topped the prologue, led the one-hour sprint from start to finish, and won Sunday's two-hour main race by six minutes. Mitch Brightmore was second and Teodor Kabakchiev third (Cycle News).

A second Italian round, Wildwoods Extreme near Genoa, was dropped from the 2026 calendar. The championship aims to bring it back in 2027.

Hell's Gate (Il Ciocco)

The 2018 edition of Hell's Gate finished in freezing conditions in front of a record crowd. It had a Friday prologue, a Saturday heat race, a three-hour multi-lap night race, and a 20-minute sprint for the top ten (ADB Magazine).

Year	Winner
2008, 2009	Taddy Blazusiak
2016	Wade Young
2018	Mario Román, ahead of five-time winner Graham Jarvis

The 6DAYS

Italy has hosted the International Six Days four times since 1997: Brescia 1997, Sardinia 2013, Lombardy and Piedmont 2021, and Bergamo 2025.

• Federazione Motociclistica Italiana (FMI). The national federation runs Italian enduro racing and licensing.
• Organisers who ride. Abestone's Michele Bosi is a racer first. He was asked by the FIM to create the Italian round of the world championship.
• Riders. Giovanni Sala won the Erzberg Hare Scramble in 1998 (Wikipedia) and rode in Italy's World Trophy-winning 6DAYS teams of 1992, 1994, 1997 and 2000. Andrea Verona rode in the winning World Trophy teams of 2021 and 2025.
• Manufacturers. Beta specialises in off-road bikes; world trials champions Jordi Tarrés and Dougie Lampkin rode them. Fantic was founded in 1968.

The rule is regional

Italy's national Highway Code (Codice della Strada) covers roads. Riding off the road network is regulated by each region. The Trans Euro Trail gives the common ground for its routes: riding on open land, footpaths and singletrack is illegal, and some protected areas ban off-road riding even without signs. In the Lombardy woods, many roads carry traffic limits and need a local permit, a "Ticket Transit" sold at a tobacconist (tabacchi) or bar. Further west, the TET's Maritime Alps sections follow the Via del Sale. Expect loose, rocky shelf roads cut into cliff faces, and hikers. For the detail, read the regional law. Tuscany's is the one that matters for Abestone and Il Ciocco.

Tuscany: Regional Law 48/1994

Tuscany's Legge Regionale 27 giugno 1994, n. 48 governs motor vehicles off the roads defined in the Highway Code and off private roads (art. 1). Its reach is wide.

Where off-road riding is banned (art. 2, para. 1).

• Landscape-protected zones. The law points to national Law 431/1985, whose list now sits in Legislative Decree 42/2004, art. 142. It includes, among others: land covered by forests and woods, even burnt, and land under reforestation orders; mountains above 1,200 m in the Apennines; the 300 m strip along coasts and lakes; 150 m either side of listed rivers and streams; and common land (usi civici).
• National and regional parks and reserves, and other regional protected areas.
• The beds of public watercourses, except fords that link existing roads.
• The region's agricultural and forest estate.
• Urban parks and wildlife protection areas.

Tracks count too (art. 2, para. 2). In those areas the ban also covers natural-surface tracks such as mule tracks and droveways (as defined in the Highway Code), logging tracks and firebreaks.

Councils can go further (art. 2, para. 3). A comune can ban off-road riding anywhere it needs to, for policing or soil-stability reasons.

Exemptions (art. 3). Emergency and public services, the armed forces and police, farm and forestry work, residents and people who must reach a workplace. Residents, including temporary ones, and workers get a free transit permit from the comune, or from the park authority inside a park. That lets a visitor reach a house inside a banned area. It is not a riding permit. Recreational riders are not on the list.

Where you can ride off-road in Tuscany

The law also sets up the legal alternatives.

Article	What it allows	Who decides
Art. 6	Fixed off-road routes for recreation and racing, outside the banned areas	The province may designate them, with the binding opinion of the councils and the consent of the landowners
Art. 7	Permanent closed circuits of limited length, outside the banned areas. Para. 1 bis adds fixed routes on degraded, marginal land, even under hydrogeological protection	The province picks the areas; the comune approves the project and licenses the operator
Art. 8	Races and events, normally on those routes and circuits. As an exception, events of up to three days on other routes, even inside the banned areas	The comune, with the landowners' consent and, in protected areas, the park authority's
Art. 12	Maps of the fixed routes and circuits, kept by provinces and councils	Riders must consult them

Since 2020 the law also covers race tracks and dedicated motorcycle circuits (art. 1, para. 1 bis). Breaking the art. 2 bans carries a fine of L. 300,000 to 1,000,000 (about €155 to €516), plus L. 100,000 to 300,000 (about €52 to €155) for failing to stop when told to (art. 10).

What that means

Ride public dirt roads on a registered, insured bike. The art. 2 ban is on leaving the road, so a public gravel road stays legal unless it is closed. Forest roads are different: national law closes them to ordinary traffic (Legislative Decree 34/2018, art. 3(2)(f)). Inside the banned areas, mule tracks, droveways, logging tracks and firebreaks are off limits. Ride fixed routes where a province has designated them (check its maps), and licensed circuits. Enter events, which are the only way to race through Tuscany's woods. Check the region's own law before every trip elsewhere in Italy.

The Trans Euro Trail recommends May to October. Higher passes and roads may stay closed until mid-June.

Month	What's on
May–October	Main trail-riding season
Mid-June	High passes typically open
Early September	Abestone Hard Enduro (4–6 September in 2026)

Flying in. Pisa and Florence are Tuscany's two major airports.

Where to base yourself. For Abestone, stay in Abetone or Val di Luce. Abetone is about 80 km northwest of Florence in the province of Pistoia (Wikipedia). For the Il Ciocco area, Barga and Castelvecchio Pascoli are the nearest towns.

Camping. Rules vary by region, per the Trans Euro Trail:

Region	Wild camping
Piedmont	Allowed up to 48 hours, away from accommodation
Alto Adige, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia	Forbidden
Valle d'Aosta	Sunset to dawn above 2,500 m, not in Gran Paradiso National Park
Liguria, Lombardy	Tolerated away from homes; may need notice to local authorities
Anywhere	Allowed with the landowner's consent

Permits. In the Lombardy woods, many roads need a local transit permit. Buy it at a tobacconist or bar before you ride.

• No singletrack. Footpaths and singletrack are off-limits outside events.
• Rivers. In Tuscany, riverbeds are closed except fords that link existing roads.
• Check the region. Each region writes its own rules.
• Watch for permit roads in Lombardy. Many roads in the woods need a local transit permit, sold at tobacconists and bars. If in doubt, ask at the village bar before the climb.
• Emergency number. Dial 112, free across the EU.
• Prepare for Abestone. Streams and rock sections feature heavily. See water crossings and logs and rocks.

Italy has raced the Six Days since its early years.

Year	Milestone
1930, 1931	Italy wins the International Trophy at the Six Days, with a team including Luigi Gilera
1931, 1932	Merano hosts the Six Days
1948–1986	Six Days in San Remo, Varese, San Pellegrino Terme (twice), Camerino and Elba
1968	Fantic founded
1992–2000	Italy wins the World Trophy in 1992, 1994, 1997 and 2000, with Giovanni Sala in every team
1997	Six Days in Brescia
1998	Giovanni Sala wins the Erzberg Hare Scramble
2013	Six Days in Sardinia
2021	Six Days in Lombardy and Piedmont; Italy wins the World Trophy
2025	Six Days around Bergamo; Italy wins the World Trophy again

Sources: ISDE records, Erzberg winners, Fantic.

Hard enduro grew from that base. Hell's Gate at Il Ciocco drew the sport's biggest names, and Abestone brought the world championship to the Tuscan mountains.

• World championship hard enduro in Tuscany. Abestone at Abetone.
• Hell's Gate. Night racing at Il Ciocco, won by Blazusiak, Young, Román and five-time winner Jarvis.
• 6DAYS winners at home. Italy won the World Trophy on home soil in 2021 and 2025.
• Clear regional law. Tuscany's rules list exactly where you cannot ride, and how routes, circuits and events are licensed.

Compare with Austria, where forest riding needs the owner's consent, or Spain, where each region sets its own rules.