Florence remembered this morning Gino Bartali, 20 years after his death, with a ceremony at the cemetery of Ponte a Ema, where he is buried, attended by the councilors for Sport and Culture of the Municipality's memory, Cosimo Guccione and Alessandro Martini, and the association 'Friends of the cycling museum', dedicated to Bartali, with the president Maurizio Bresci.
The ceremony, with a blessing of the tomb by the parish priest of Ponte a Ema don Antonio, took place in compliance with the coronavirus containment measures. "He is one of the Italians to whom we must look at this tragic moment for our country - said Councilor Guccione - Bartali knew that in life and in sport, even more so a sport like his, nobody gives you anything, everything what you can win you must earn it with sweat, effort, work, determination. Our umpteenth thanks go to him. And a commitment: to deal with seriousness, trying to imitate his courage and dignity, this test so painful that history has given us ".
Councilor Martini said that "Bartali is something more than one of the greats of Italian cycling. It still represents an example of civil commitment and a spirit of solidarity with others, especially with those in difficulty".
But to remember the deeds of Ginettaccio, as he was nicknamed, also came the words of Sergio Mattarella, who brought to memory the winner of three Giri d'Italia (1936, 1937, 1946) and two Tour de France (1938, 1948) not only for his sporting achievements, but also for his valiant commitment to saving the persecuted by the Nazis and Fascists. "The name of Gino Bartali, champion and legend of Italian cycling - underlined the President of the Republic - is inscribed in great characters in the history of national sport and represents one of the symbols of post-war Italy. He will also be remembered as Righteous among the Nations for the courageous and silent commitment to the rescue network, built by the archbishop and rabbi of Florence, which allowed hundreds of Jewish citizens to escape persecution and deportation ".
"The Republic - said Mattarella again - remembers him, twenty years after his death, as an athlete of extraordinary value, but also as a witness to that spirit of solidarity, sacrifice, dedication that has relaunched the country in the eyes of the world".
Also this morning, Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, archbishop of Florence, recalled Bartali in the private mass (without the presence of relatives of the sample, due to coronavirus) officiated in his chapel in the Archbishopric.
