Mountain Biking: The New Heart of Cycle Tourism
When envisioning cycling infrastructure, one often pictures expansive smooth asphalt paths alongside rivers, futuristic bridges suspended in mid-air, or bike lanes contending for space in urban areas dominated by cars. These are large-scale projects, frequently making headlines. However, there’s another Italy—the one of perched villages and tranquil valleys—where infrastructure has existed for centuries, albeit buried under layers of foliage and neglect.
These are our trails. Thousands of kilometers of ancient pathways that, thanks to a renewed technical awareness and the momentum of modern cycle tourism, are becoming the driving force behind an unprecedented territorial regeneration. Mountain Biking (MTB and E-MTB), often confined to purely athletic pursuits, is quietly transforming, becoming the primary tool to explore a “slow” Italy that asphalt can never reach.
A History Written in Stone and the Return to Use
In Europe, and particularly in Italy, trails were not originally created for leisure. For millennia, they served as vital arteries of an economic system: connecting isolated villages, leading to precious water sources, providing access to fields for heroic agriculture, or to high-altitude pastures. They were survival infrastructures.
With the advent of motorization and the abandonment of rural areas post-World War II, this dense network lost its practical function, often falling into disuse or being swallowed by the forest. Recovering these paths today means not just clearing them but performing an act of social archaeology. Rediscovering a trail brings to light mule tracks that served ancient charcoal burners, old mills, or forgotten quarries. These elements, once purely functional, now become points of interest in a complex tourist experience, capable of adding historical and cultural value to a simple ride.
The Bridge Called Gravel and Bikepacking
If, until a decade ago, the world of Mountain Biking and that of cycle tourism were two parallel lines, today the advent of Gravel and Bikepacking has created a vast intersection. The contemporary cycle tourist is increasingly inclined to move away from busy roads. They seek silence, more genuine experiences, direct contact with nature, but not necessarily risk or extreme difficulty.
This is where the vision of the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) comes into play. Transforming an old forgotten track into an off-road cycling path means opening doors to a vast user base that desires to traverse the territory transversely, combining the pleasure of geographical discovery with the fluidity of movement in the forest.
From Forest Track to Tourist Infrastructure
A trail, on its own, is merely a line on a map. To become a tourist infrastructure, it must be conceived as part of a network. This is one of the fundamental steps emphasized by IMBA Italy: design. It’s not just about connecting point A to point B but studying flows, user needs, and the sustainability (both physical and social) of the path.
A modern infrastructure must be:
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Readable: Thanks to clear classification systems like the International Trail Rating System (ITRS), users should know exactly what to expect in terms of technical difficulty, required training, exposed sections, or planning needed for a tour.
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Connected: It should intersect with villages, train stations, refreshment points, and points of interest.
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Durable: It must withstand the passage of time and weather agents without becoming a scar in the landscape.
The Economic Multiplier Effect of Off-Road Cycle Tourism
We must stop viewing the cyclist as a transient athlete. Data tells us that the off-road cycle tourist is one of the most valuable users for inland areas. Unlike the fleeting tourism of locations seen on social media or large art cities, those who ride on trails tend to stay longer.
The reason is simple: moving off-road requires more time, more energy, and consequently, a greater need for local services. The cycle tourist stays in valley accommodations, eats in local inns, buys typical products they can carry in their bags. This generates a widespread and distributed economic impact: the “value of the coffee and croissant” multiplied by thousands of seasonal passes can make the difference between the closure of a village bar and its survival.
Caring for the Common Good: Maintenance and Community
A cornerstone of IMBA’s philosophy is that the trail is not a cost but an asset. However, an asset must be managed. This is where the concept of sustainable maintenance comes into play. A well-designed trail, according to IMBA’s sustainability criteria, manages rainwater naturally, minimizing erosion. This means that small municipalities, often short of funds, do not find themselves having to manage continuous hydrogeological emergencies on trails.
But there’s more: trail maintenance creates community. Involving local associations, volunteers, and guides transforms residents from mere spectators to active protagonists. The cyclist becomes a sentinel of the territory, the first person to report a fallen tree or a landslide, ensuring constant monitoring of the forest that would otherwise be lost.
The Trail Towns Model
Looking abroad (but with increasingly frequent examples also in Italy), the model of Trail Towns shows the way. These are villages, towns, and small urban centers that have built their identity around the trail network. In these places, the trail is experienced as the town square: a place of meeting, hospitality, and work. For Italy’s villages facing demographic decline, this is not just a tourist opportunity; it’s a survival strategy.
Coexistence and Multi-Use at the Heart of Trail Democracy
Finally, we must address the elephant in the room: the coexistence between different users. The recovered trail is not a bike-only path but a democratic space. Proper design (which includes managing sightlines to avoid sudden encounters and adjusting gradients) allows hikers, bikers, and residents to coexist safely.
Moreover, adopting international standards like ITRS allows for a unique communication of risk and difficulty, reducing conflicts and increasing the social value of the work. A trail where everyone feels safe is a trail that produces well-being for the entire community.
An Invitation to the Cycle Tourism Fair
In conclusion, the challenge that IMBA Italy poses to the world of “traditional” cycle tourism is to look up from the asphalt and observe the hills and mountains with new eyes. Trails are our most undervalued infrastructural resource.
From March 27 to 29, 2026, during the Cycle Tourism Fair, we will have the opportunity to deepen this dialogue. It will be the moment to understand how the vision of those who design urban cycling paths and that of those who protect mountain trails can merge into a single, large national strategy for the bicycle. Because, after all, whether under the wheels of a city bike or an MTB, the territory we traverse is the same: fragile, wonderful, and in need of care.