Yes, helmet + fluorescent stuff. Try to take smaller roads, but not always possible. The difference was just striking between for example Alessandria (pretty much 0 cycling) and Lodi (lots) while infrastructure seems almost equally bad.
I am from Belgium, Speed pedelecs (45 km/h!!) are ruining our bike paths too… :( they shouldn’t be allowed on the cycling paths, the speed difference with a regular non electric cyclist (15 km/h?) and especially kids and old people on regular bikes is just too big, and the speed pedelecers (car brains on a fast bike) bring a very toxic behaviour to the cycle paths