The Italy of the bicycle runs
between old artisan tradition and ultramodern and technological materials
: in 2019 the Italian companies in the sector had a turnover of 1.032 billion euros and are promising in 2020 with + 20.2% of production recorded in June and July after the lockdown.
A boom that has been going on for several years, so much so that
we are now talking about the
bike economy
, and which unites all countries, but in which Italy excels, worldwide, in different points of the supply chain.
According to the V Artibici Report of Confartigianato, we are in fact not only
the first nation in the EU for the number of bikes, 1,776,300, sold abroad
in 2019, for a total value of 609 million and a growth of 15.2% compared to the previous year ed
the fourth world exporter of bicycles and components,
with 7.2% of the sector's world exports but also global leaders in some parts of the supply chain.
Italy is in first place in the world for exports of saddles, with more than half (54.6%) of world exports, and in rims with a share of 13.6%.
The companies in the sector are growing, there are 3,128 (production, repair and rental) with an increase of 3.2% in the last 5 years, and employ 7,409 employees;
in most cases (1.981) they are artisan businesses and, also in this case, contrary to the general data, they are more vital than average companies: the business demography shows that in 2019 the realities of the bicycle supply chain grow in one year + 1.5% in contrast to the 0.1% decline in total companies.
The message is clear: "In the production and maintenance of bicycles - underlines the President of Confartigianato Giorgio Merletti - artisan entrepreneurs have been able to revive and relaunch the excellence of Made in Italy manufacturing, conquering international markets".
Among the provinces with the greatest 'cycling' production vocation
, Bolzano,
Sondrio, Forlì-Cesena
stand out in the first three places
.
At the regional level, the podium goes to
Trentino Alto Adige
, Emilia Romagna and Veneto.
Among the best foreign customers of our bicycles is France, which last year bought them for 121 million, followed by Germany (100 million) and Spain (46 million).
In Italy there are more and more cyclists: over one million (1,003,000) people who used it in 2019, also exploiting the 4,568 kilometers of cycle paths.
However, cycle paths in Italy are still patchy.
The regions with the greatest intensity of bicycle use in relation to the inhabitants are Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto and
Emilia Romagna: a region, the latter, which alone has 1,352.8 km of cycle paths.