This is one of the world’s best destinations for riding a scooter

Word of warning: you’re going to want to close your eyes. There will be times on your Vespa adventure of Italy when something entirely unexpected and probably quite dangerous will happen on the road in front of you, and you will think maybe it’s better to just not see it.

Italy is like that. Italian roads, in particular, are like that. There you are in, say, Sicily, pootling along the coastline, the sun on your arms and the wind in your face, not a care in the world, and yet all the locals seem like they have somewhere they desperately need to be.

Zoom, whoosh, screech – tiny cars fly past you. Some pull out in front of you. You grip your handlebars and just try to get used to it.

Once you do, you will discover that Italy is one of the world’s great destinations not just for motorbike touring, but for scooter touring. This is the home of the famous Vespa, the icon of the moped world, and the Italian countryside works surprisingly well for a journey on these urban machines.

Case in point: Sardinia. Hire a scooter in Sardinia. This is a gorgeous island, almost unfairly beautiful, riven with quiet roads that either hug the coastline or climb up through the mountains, where the speed limit is low, and the corners are many.

You can take your time on a scooter in Sardinia, stopping for a swim in the sparkling Mediterranean, calling into a cafe for yet another espresso, taking a break on a seaside terrace for a quick gelato.

Sicily, too, is wonderful, once you get used to the pace of the traffic. Wind your way up steep hillsides to Taormina and Forza d’Agro, tackle the ancient streets of Syracuse, explore historic Noto on your motorised steed.

You will need to prepare for a scooter adventure, of course. Ensure you have a motorbike licence in Australia, and an International Driving Permit. If not it will be illegal to ride in Italy, and you won’t be covered by travel insurance.