A rethink of the route

A while back, before I started on the planning of this route, I'd thought about a "coast to coast" route in Italy. It didn't seem practical because of the logistics of bike bags and other luggage. However it occurred to me that a variant of my Bologna loop would work coast to coast.

Introducing: Italy coast to coast

So I've changed the route. Instead of taking the train to Bologna and eventually returning there, the plan now takes the train to Firenze, and uses that as a base. In Firenze I will unpack the bike and leave my luggage. Then onto a regional train to Viareggio on the Ligurian coast. From there the ride commences, inland to join the Via Francigana as it heads south, through Lucca to our first night's stop at Altopascio. The next day, after crossing the Arno our route turns north-east and more or less follows the Arno to Firenze, so we get to revisit our luggage briefly.

When we arrive in Rimini, instead of taking the train to Bologna, we take the train to Firenze! 

The overall distance remains more or less unchanged, although of course there is less climbing in total as we now only cross the Apennines once rather than twice.

The latest variant of the plan is at the wiki.