Ciclomundi, the cycling travel festival, has now reached its third year and, following the success of previous years, it has moved from the north-east of Italy to an area bursting with history and appeal, the Terre di Siena. Initiated by the provincial government, the tourist board and Siena town council, with the backing of the main sponsor, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Ciclomundi is making its mark as a real festival for cycling lovers, with a jam-packed schedule and numerous chances to get together with other travellers. Siena certainly isn’t a random choice since – above and beyond its loveliness – this town has had such an intense relationship with cycling that it welcomed the first bike travellers to Italy in 1884: the American couple Joseph and Elisabeth Pennell. The reading show by Giuseppe Cederna is dedicated to the relationship with the early bike; he will interpret excerpts written for the occasion by Gianni Mura, Margherita Hack, Brunella Schisa, Susanna Tamaro, Emilio Rigatti, Gian Luca Favetto, Maurizio Crosetti and Didier Tronchet, with live music by Têtes de Bois. At the festival we’ll meet Enrico Brizzi and Wu Ming2, stars of an event focusing on slowness. We can take part in a round table focusing on city cycling, with guest Chris Carlsson, one of the founders of Critical Mass. We can attend a debate about the bike/school synthesis with the support of Emilio Rigatti and Marco Lodoli. We’ll talk about the bike as an antidote to the crisis and listen to the deeds of adventurous bike travellers, such as the Swiss Claude Marthaler, who has two world bike tours to his credit. There’ll be much more besides: shows in the squares, exhibitions, bike singers, events, local bike tours, photographic shows, bespoke workshops (bike lessons, dedicated to travel photography, GPS, writing bike reportage, etc.), bike stories with author readings, tourism and trade publications fair, space for bike travellers who would like to tell their tales, find travel companions, etc. So 24, 25 and 26 September is a good time to meet up with bike travellers from around the world in Siena. Siena, an inescapable destination for cycling tourism, with its breathtaking scenery, wonderful roads, bespoke hospitality and two permanent routes that are envied the world over: Eroica and Sentiero della Bonifica. The bike is the right means for a holiday that lets you regain the rhythms of the past. If you’re lucky enough to cycle around the Terre di Siena with their bends, downhill stretches, climbs, crests and valleys, it’s like undergoing a slow and intense tasting menu! This is the land of all cycle tourists where excitement goes hand in hand with specialist hospitality, including the themed site of the tourist board (inbici.terresiena. it) where there are also a series of selected structures capable of offering services for cyclists. Ciclomundi and its three days in Siena is an enjoyable taster of what will come the week after, when the now famous Eroica takes place: the non-competitive international cycling event – mostly along unpaved roads – that begins in Gaiole in Chianti, to assert the now central role that the Terre di Siena devotes to the bicycle and sustainable tourism. Ten intense days focusing on the bike and sustainable tourism in Siena and its province, a virtuous common thread that runs through Ciclomundi, the largest event dedicated to the world of the bike with L’Eroica, the most famous and loveliest cycle route in the world. Ten days not to be missed and in the saddle.....(Portions of this article first appeared in "Toscana & Chianti News")
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