I'm already convinced. I already own guidebook + map for the area, and all
your suggestions.

But I don't make decisions about where to ride just by myself. While I do
ride myself some days, it's always vaguely near some riding or hiking or
climbing or skiing I'm doing with somebody else -- or vaguely near an
airport I need to use for something I'm doing with somebody else.

So I have several "dormant" ideas for bicycling that are waiting for when
somebody I know wants to travel somewhere vaguely near them - (like another
one is the coastal areas of Croatia).
Two things that would make Alpi Apuane / Garfagnana more likely a
* non-expensive non-Alitalia flights to Milano on days I want to fly.
* detailed English-language info about via ferrata climbs in Garfagnana -
(it's there in Italian)

As for photos in magazines, regions that people really love have lots of
photos and videos up on the web.
Like on Youtube there's two or three videos of bicycling up and down the
road on Sv. Jure (1762m) near Biokovo in Croatia. Or Mt Ucka in Istria. And
some for Velebit.
(Incidentally, like for Mt Ucka, some riders think the main reason for
climbing the San Pellegrino in Alpi paved road is to be able to do the
off-road descent on dirt.)

Ken