Twenty-four stories about bicycles in Italy, to tell how the world of pedaling has transformed in our country in recent years: from Sundays by bike with austerity in '73 to the pandemic of the last two years.
"24 stories of bikes" (published by Il Sole 24Ore) is a book written by Alessandra Schepisi, journalist of Radio 24, and Pierpaolo Romio, founder of Girolibero, the main Italian tour operator specializing in easy cycling holidays.
The volume tells the true stories of characters who have made two wheels their choice of life: from the wizard of the looms to the riders of the theater, from the recordwoman to the solo traveler in the ice of Siberia.
"The bicycle is that thing that one day, perhaps, will save us" says the Trentino frame builder Dario Pegoretti in his interview, the last one released before his death and like him the other protagonists speak: by Frans Timmermans vice president of the European Commission convinced that "the bicycle has a romantic past and a glorious future" to the former champion Alessandra Cappellotto who dreams "that all women in the world can ride free", from Paola Pezzo the queen of mountain biking to Norma Gimondi daughter of Felice, from Rudie Campagne who transformed a small Brembate company into a multinational tire and tire company to Paola Santini of the historic Lallio knitwear, to Sergio Basso, the pursuer of bike sharing thieves.
Each of the 24 stories is accompanied by a technical sheet with numbers on the market, curiosities, information on itineraries, cycling figures, each in line with the theme dealt with in the chapter. And which ends by taking stock with the Minister of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility Enrico Giovannini on the investments in the coming years in sustainable and cycling mobility.