I "My mayors" had sensitivity and vision for the Giro d'Italia, which are now lacking, and so the Pink Event is increasingly diminished in comparison to the Tour de France, which is about to launch the 113th chapter of an unparalleled popular novel. The pink alarm is being raised from many quarters, calling for a decisive change. There is a lack of new political ambassadors for a story that risks being debased to a mere village extravaganza. Because it is essential to find new tutelary deities.
Strange characters, my mayors.
In thirty years of pure journalism—from trainee to deputy editor—and another twenty as an organizer of major events, I have crossed paths with "special" administrators who, at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, continue to be at the forefront.
Let's talk, for example, about Massimo Cacciari, Vincenzo De Luca, Sergio Chiamparino (left), Letizia Moratti (center), and Gianni Alemanno and Flavio Tosi (right), thus covering the entire constitutional spectrum—if it still makes sense to speak in these terms—leaving aside, for the moment, highly influential figures like Giorgia Meloni, prime minister of a government with a record duration, and Gianmarco Mazzi, first undersecretary of Culture and then Minister of Tourism. And like Ignazio La Russa, who rose from the Ministry of Defense to become President of the Senate, the second highest office in the Italian Republic.
This time, let's also leave Giorgio Napolitano, President of Italy in 2009, to eternal peace, as he celebrated, among other things, the centenary of the Giro d'Italia, while waiting to appropriately frame the 150th anniversary of Italian unification in 2011. But we certainly can't fail to mention other regional governors such as Roberto Formigoni (Lombardy), Giancarlo Galan with Luca Zaia (the true "Doge" of Veneto as well as Minister of Agriculture), Alberto Cirio (Piedmont), Claudio Burlando (Liguria), Antonio Bassolino (Campania), Debora Serracchiani (Friuli-Venezia Giulia), Ottaviano Del Turco (Marche), Michele Emiliano (Puglia), Stefano Bonaccini (Emilia-Romagna), Renato Soru (Sardinia), Raffaello Lombardo (Sicily)...
At first glance, the lengthy list of names and roles might seem like a dry phone book, but each of them has moments, gestures, initiatives, actions, phrases, and so on etched in our minds, moments that have become indelible. And if over time, some of them have been included among those under investigation, those indicted, and those convicted by the judiciary, the suggestion of deleting them from our "contacts" would lead us to reduce the phone book by half... That's how Italy works.
On “Global Beatles Day” we too have our “Fabulous Four” among the Mayors mentioned at the beginning: Cacciari, De Luca, Moratti and Zaia, Moratti.
In what capacity?
Because Cacciari fully supported the celebration of the Centenary of the Giro d'Italia with the Opening Ceremony in Piazza San Marco in Venice and the Grand Departure from the Lido.
Because De Luca, as mayor of Salerno, clearly understood the media and cultural value that the Giro d'Italia has always brought with it.
Because Brichetto Arnaboldi Moratti first snubbed the Giro and then reconquered it, also embellishing the start of the Milan-Sanremo from the Sforza Castle and who would never have allowed it to migrate to Pavia, thanks to the skills and knowledge she gained first as President of RAI and then as Minister of Education.
Because Zaia, always rooted in the local area, understood as a child the value of the bicycle as a tool for work, recreation, and sport, so much so that he elevated the provinces of Venice, Verona, Vicenza, Treviso—and, in the twilight of his presidency of the Region—even Belluno and Rovigo to the rank of cradles of cycling, a sport that has been fading over the years, but which in his region still retains a strong core of passion. It was Zaia who first championed the cause of the Muro di Ca' del Poggio, which later became a hub of passion for cyclists and others, who see in that steep climb the starting point of the desired twinning with the Mures des Flandres and the Côtes de Wallonia (read Huy...).
"My" mayors have always stood out and consistently come to the fore: Cacciari for the irrevocable decisions of global geopolitics; De Luca for inventing a new role every time the previous one becomes obsolete; Moratti for being a catalyst for common interests based on her extensive experience; Zaia for his ability to grasp the mood of the grassroots, and since he has never enjoyed being someone's "deputy," it's safe to assume that sooner or later he will embark on the path of a new political entity under the banner of national popularism.
The topic is a tricky one, as is well known. And it involves the risk of slipping on the banana peels left here and there by those trying to manage other people's emotions. But all of them have been mentioned because they have helped the Giro d'Italia improve over time, and more "Fab Four" are needed to rewrite the contemporary Giro, which has fallen into a downward spiral of socio-cultural significance: the pink decline is ultimately confronted with the Tour's unstoppable yellow growth, thus seeing the gap between the main cycling events in Italy and France widen dramatically.
Never before has politics been so obligated to save the soldier... Giro. The ads in Hungary, Albania, and Bulgaria over the last five years aren't enough. The postcard of Italy to be sent around the world is crumpled.
The 113th Tour, which will set sail from Barcelona on Saturday, July 4, 2026, and finish in Paris on the 26th, will not be dominated solely by the tug-of-war between Slovenian Tadej Pogacar and Dane Jonas Vingegard, who had a leisurely ride at the Giro due to a lack of rivals, training well without expending precious energy. The battle will include riders young and old, making the Grande Boucle the global event par excellence.
Time will tell… we’ll talk about it later.
