738 for bicycle fans

Italy's Friends of Bicycles Association (Fiab) has drawn up a list of some 1,000
'bicycle-friendly' hotels and guest houses and posted it on a new website for the growing ranks of bicycle tourists.

The list of hotels, hostels, guest houses, camp grounds and bed-and-breakfast establishments is broken down on a
region-by-region basis and can be found at the website [url="http://www.albergabici.it"]www.albergabici.it[/url] .

The list does not rate the establishments in terms of quality but on the services it can offer the cycle tourist.

One of the chief requirements a guest facility must offer the cyclist is a covered area where the bikes can be safely
stored. Fiab also suggests they have a place where bikes can be
repaired, offer packed meals for travel and supply itineraries for the bicycle tourist which include special
cycle roads and trails where they exist.

According to the cyclist association, Italy has the potential to hosting as many as 19 million bicycle tourists a
year who could generate business for over 30,000 guest facilities almost all year.