Page 9 - FAST 2024 Calendar Yearbook

Edelweiss Motorcycle Tour, Rome, Italy, - April 28 - May 13th 2022 -
For many of us looking to return to normal life after 2 years of the Covid pandemic shutdowns, 2022 was my post pandemic return with a new Edelweiss Motorcycle Tour in Europe. This time my trip would be in Southern Italy, riding from Rome to Sicily along the beautiful Amalphi western coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
This region was the birthplace of European civilization including the great empires of Greece and Rome, and later the Norman Vikings. I wanted to see for the first time where much of World history and civilization first began, and brought us to where mankind is today, the places I had learned about and had dreamed of visiting one day.
This would be my 6th Edelweiss bike tour, and one of the most memo- rable. I have been to Northern Italy countless times over the last 20 years, both for Ducati factory events, World Ducati Weeks and DRE Track Riding Experiences with my buddy World Superbike Champion Troy Bayliss., Also on previous Edel- weiss tours in the Alps, the Pyrenees in Spain, and across Tuscany. But this would be my first visit to Rome and I wanted to see it right, so I arranged to fly in 2 days early and stay at the Edelweiss Tour's start Hotel in Rome, the Occidental Aurelia. And I asked my Italian friend, 2023 Gasoline Girls Calendar photographer, Simon de Raineri to help arrange with one of his beautiful Italian models, Sophie Francesconi, to shoot with me in Rome while we took in the sights for 2 days.
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