Giro d’Italia: from San Sebastiano da Po a message of peace for governments in a work created on a roundabout

This is what led to the installation present at the roundabout between the SP 590 and the SP 94 at the height of the Bailey bridge, in the territory of the Municipality of San Sebastiano da Po: fifty wooden herons, created by Claudio Bertolowith the collaboration of Guido Viano of the Ancora company from Saronsella have created, together with some rigorously pink bicycles and reproductions of men with their arms raised, the “Campo Gino e Teresa Strada”. Yesno Strada, Italian doctor, activist, philanthropist and writer who recently passed away, together with his wife Teresa was the founder of the Italian NGO Emergency.

It was impossible not to notice the pink-ribboned installation for the passing of the first stage of the Giro d’Italia which passed through these parts around 2.30pm, by all the motorists who traveled along the SP 590 and also by the RAI cameras which documented the pink race live.

A show that did not leave anyone indifferent. Like the writing around the perimeter of the roundabout. “Around Peace”.

“Guido Viano and I had this idea in recent days – explains Claudio Bertolo –. We assembled it in a couple of hours and we will dismantle it this evening. Our goal was to raise public awareness given the times we are living in”. The obvious reference is to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and to the tensions between Israel and Iran.

In reality the whole of San Sebastiano da Po, which saw the passage of the Giro d’Italia first on the SP 590 and then on the SP438 to Casalborgone, was decorated in pink thanks to the decorations created along the streets by the volunteers of the Pro loco, the Alpini and by a bit of all the associative realities of the country. A showcase, that of the Giro, which the community has exploited to a great extent.

And what others also tried to do, such as “Gli Amici del Po” who greeted the passage of the pink race with a banner near the Bricel park, in Chivasso.

Who is Claudio Bertolo

The San Sebastiano area Claudio Bertolowith its installations, is no stranger to this type of initiative.

Claudio Bertolo is a boy from 1976 from San Sebastiano da Po. He works at the Palace of Justice in Turin for a living. His hobbies include music, painting, recovering abandoned goods and… installations.

The herons of wood were made with material recovered from the mother’s walk-in closet: for a few years now, from time to time, they can be found in the meadows, on the hills or in the plains, between San Sebastiano da Po, Castagneto and Casalborgone.

For years Claudio Bertolo tries to make views, corners and details of the Chivasse hills more beautiful. “I decorated some municipal pumps in San Sebastiano – he told us in an interview some time ago -, I positioned a sundial at the Milane, I created a series of private jobs”.

He does it out of passion, not for profit. He does it because something clicks in his head as soon as he comes across a beautiful panorama or a decadent ruin: he sees what they could become and, with his ability, he rolls up his sleeves and gets busy for three . “I cast my eye on particular corners: for example if I see ivy growing on four pieces of concrete, I instinctively think of creating something that can give it new life – he explained to us -. I like discovering works of embellishment in villages, seeing the redevelopment of corners of houses or ruins: it is something that arouses interest and curiosity in me. So it makes me want to give my contribution. If then, after my work, there is someone who stops to take a photograph, then it means that I managed to create beauty there. And for me it’s an enormous satisfaction: I don’t care if my name is at the bottom of an installation, that’s why I don’t sign my works. I’m more interested in being surprised by the amazement of people who stop to see what I have created”.

This time he surprised even those who, from the sofa at home, were glued to the TV to cheer on their favorites on bicycles.