Italophiles, clear your calendars for Sept. 6-14, 2014, for the 2014 Benelli Vintage Tour. Led by multi-time Motogiro d’Italia participant and former Lotus Tours operator Burt Richmond, with Motorcycle Classics editor-in-chief Richard Backus riding shotgun, the Benelli Vintage Tour is a week-long romp around Italy’s eastern midsection, a tourist-free haven stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the Apennini Mountains.
This is the second Benelli Vintage Tour, organized by Eligio Arturi of Mototouring in Milan, Italy. A lifelong motorcycle enthusiast, Arturi’s been putting together motorcycle tours since 1991, including rides to exotic locales like Tunisia, Morocco, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan and South America.
The Benelli Vintage Tour will headquarter in the beautiful port city of Pesaro on Italy’s Adriatic coast. Founded by the Romans in the 2nd century B.C., Pesaro is the ancestral home of Benelli, Motobi and Morbidelli motorcycles.
Keeping to theme, riders will have their choice of vintage Benellis and Motobis to ride, ranging from a single-cylinder 1955 125cc Benelli Carenato to a 6-cylinder Seventies Sei 750, with late model “millennium” Benellis available for those who want to ride two-up or just prefer a newer machine.
The tour starts with a visit to Officine Benelli, the official Benelli museum, and includes daily rides to surrounding points of interest including vintage motorcycle museums, medieval castles and ancient Roman villages.
Participants will cover about 1,000 miles during the week of riding and exploring, ending with a visit to the famous Morbidelli museum in Pesaro, home to 350 vintage motorcycles. Cost for the tour runs $3,500, which includes your bike, hotel room, breakfast and dinner every day, and a support vehicle and bilingual guide. MC
