And that “fil-rose” of the Giro that unites Cacciari, Sànchez, Besos, Dolce&Gabbana
As D-Day approaches – and certainly not stealthily – feelings begin to overlap so quickly that they force us to reflect on long-dormant things.
The Feast of the Redeemer falls in 2025 on the long weekend of July 18th to 20th. Publications are brimming with news, alerts, invitations, clarifications, events, and so on. And the mind turns to the essential fact that practically every place boasts celebrations linked to saints. The Feast in the Lagoon is the moment that commemorates salvation from the plague. This was in 1576, halfway through the scourge that had begun a year earlier and ended a year later. Archives speak of a citizenry decimated by at least a third, that is, approximately 45.000 deaths out of 135.000 poorly recorded and, perhaps, even miscounted.
The Feast of the Redeemer, with its procession from the Giudecca to the new cathedral designed by Palladio, is celebrated every July. It's an event that balances the sacred and the profane, and it's become an essential part of our lives. It overlaps with another, much closer to home, having been awarded honorary citizenship by that small town: Peschici, the pearl of the Gargano Peninsula, in the province of Foggia, a promontory that rises from the Adriatic Sea to the top of the Umbra Forest (so named for its refreshing shade in the summer, and not for some strange connection with the Umbria Region).
In Venice, the liberation from the plague is celebrated. In Peschici, Saint Elias is honored, who is said to have been the prophet who protected from the locust invasion in the mid-25th century, around the time of the tragedy in the lagoon. The saint of Venice—it's worth noting—is Saint Mark the Evangelist, celebrated on April XNUMXth (the day of another Liberation, as is well known). He has always been depicted with a winged lion holding a book that exhorts: "Peace be with you, Mark my evangelist."
Saint Mark (who is also the patron saint of Pordenone and Latina, just to keep things simple, as Italian provincial capitals) and Saint Elias have nothing to do with each other except that they are both saints. But they are closely connected by the "fil rouge" of the Giro d'Italia, which has provided unforgettable moments from the 1970s to well beyond the turn of the millennium: always ideally on a racing bike, of course.
Venice is on a very different level than Peschici. On the path to competitive cycling, we must confess, it was the 1978 Giro d'Italia time trial, redesigned by the brilliant Vincenzo Torriani, that left us speechless. Torriani, the one and only Patron of the Giro, and his faithful cartographer Cesare Sangalli—never celebrated enough—designed a route that has become historic and inimitable due to the evolution of cycling, which carried athletes to unimaginable speeds: it ran from Marghera to Piazza San Marco (…here comes the Patron again!). Times were set well before the finish in the shadow of the Campanile because the finish line was accessible thanks in part to a pontoon bridge that prevented riders from taking excessive risks. It was May 21st. A Sunday. Francesco Moser, wearing the rainbow jersey of world champion he had won the previous summer in San Cristobal (Venezuela), defeated his longtime rival, Giuseppe Saronni.
The image of the Giro in Venice went around the world. And, in the spirit of confession, it remained in my mind until I decided to propose starting the Centenary Giro (1909-2009) from Venice and finishing in Rome, the capital of Italy: a grand finale dusted off a dozen years later to rediscover the Imperial Forums. Nothing is created and nothing is destroyed, said Someone.
Well, in 2008, inspiration took me to Venice, just a year before what would become the Grand Start of the Centenary Giro. While the 2008 race was taking place fairly close to the Lagoon, with my then-faithful driver Alessandro Giannelli, I headed to Piazzale Roma to visit the then-mayor of the Veneto capital: the philosopher Massimo Cacciari, who knows the history of the Giro well, who remains enamored with it, and who knows how to evaluate the specific and social weight of any event, be it political, social, cultural, sporting, or entertainment.
Having parked my car in a parking garage in Piazzale Roma, just this side of the Ponte della Libertà (!), I acted as host for a walk toward Piazza San Marco, then down the Rialto Bridge. My first stop was Caffè Florian, the first café in the world to open. Date: December 20, 1720. We were in 2008… After sipping a perfectly ordinary toasted coffee, Giannelli was surprised to find that the price of the drink included a surcharge for the music playing from the portico. My second stop was Ca' Farsetti – Ca' Loredan, the historic seat of the Municipality.
Massimo Cacciari was waiting for us with his greying beard under his jet black bob. A man of culture turned to politics, he didn't ask for any further information. He understood the value of the proposal in the blink of an eye. And he supported the idea, leaving it up to the municipal bodies (including the Casino) to address and resolve the financial issue. The announcement was made from Ca' Farsetti. The official presentation of the Centenary race was held at the Teatro La Fenice – and you're right…: now it's streaming somewhere and on some website that regularly cuts off, let us tell you – and the inaugural stage on May 9th took place at the Lido in Venice with a team time trial won by the American Columbia High Road “pulled” by Mark Cavendish, a British sprinter of extraordinary stature who now even has roads in France named after him for having surpassed Eddy Merckx in the number of daily stages won (35).
That day, Massimo Cacciari arrived at the finish line on his bicycle. Everyone was focused on Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana, who had designed the Centenary pink jersey as less empty talk than the dresses Lauren Sánchez would wear for her wedding to Jeff Bezos in Venice in 2025. The Mayor avoided ceremony and ceremony. He was there, at the beach with his red-haired companion. Casual clothes. Hands on the handlebars. His connection to cycling, a sport practiced using the most democratic means of transportation, was greatly strengthened, far beyond the valuable city projects launched during his tenure to extend the development of cycle paths to 50 kilometers in conjunction with Mestre. A year later, he left politics and devoted himself primarily to some of the sixty-plus books he penned.
For the record: the 2009 Giro d'Italia was headlined by Danis Menchov, a Russian rider welcomed to the Quirinale Palace wearing the pink jersey by President Giorgio Napolitano, who spoke in the language of the occasional conqueror of the Gazzetta dello Sport race. Nothing new, then, under the capital's skies if Sergio Mattarella appears at the finish line...
The Festa del Redentore is about to begin. Let's leave Peschici and its four Giro stages—a record for small towns!—for other chapters and head to the Procession at the heart of the 2025 celebrations in Venice. We're eagerly awaiting announcements, such as Friday's opening of the votive bridge made of rafts connecting the Giudecca to the Redentore, the Saturday night fireworks display in St. Mark's Basin, and the Youth Regatta on Sunday, along with the Votive Mass on Sunday. Unique moments: you can bet on them.
