In front of that lawyerwho he knew was at least over seventy and who above all knew he came from the other side of the country, the judgeconsidering that the case had been settled amicably the evening before, he made sure to deal with it first, so as to allow him to board the first plane. Without even remotely imagining the answerwhich would leave him speechless, unable to believe what he had just heard. So stunned that he invited the lawyer to repeat it and, having received confirmation, even asked the other party to suspend the hearing for a few minutes to go and verify that it was all true.
What had that lawyer answered that was so strange that it seemed incredible? That from Bergamo to Reggio Calabria he had not arrived (and much less would have retraced the route in reverse) by plane, but rather on his motorbike. Which the judge was ultimately able to ascertain by going down into the courtyard, where he made a fine show of himself the powerful BMW with which that«highlander in toga and helmet» I had crossed Italy. Ready, moreover, to repeat the feat, probably out of reach even for motorcyclists half his age.
He laughs Ettore Tacchinilawyer with registration in Motoga, the association of two-wheeler lawyers, to the memory of that episode and the expression printed on that judge’s face. And he also laughs when he thinks back to his friend’s incredulous face when faced with the news today, on the threshold of 81 springs (he will turn 81 on June 22nd), he organized a “trip” of a good six thousand kilometers in Portugal. Stuff that at 20 years old may seem normal, but at her age it has all the flavor of a Guinness Book of Records. Stuff that makes even the memory of the feat accomplished by fade Emilio Scotto, reporter who became a legend among bikers after having covered 735 thousand kilometers on his Honda Ala d’Oro in 10 years.
How many has Ettore Tacchini ridden in his 60 years in the saddle, considering that he got on it at the age of 21 and never got off again? «I never thought about keeping track but I think it’s a six-figure figure»the well-known lawyer says with increasing amusement Bergamo also for having presided over the professional association and capable of worrying colleagues and magistrates the very few times he showed up at the entrance to the court not on two wheels. Those of a scooter, “ideal for dodging traffic on business trips”, while for “pleasure” trips his garage is spoiled for choice, with seven or eight motorcycles that he has never parted with. And with the powerful in pole position BMW 1250 R freshly serviced to take to Portugal. As if at eighty it was the most normal thing on earth.
And with the addition of a detail intended to make everything even more astonishing: the “motofattoria”, the Portuguese motor marathon, will take place after two scheduled pit stops in the operating room to have as many knee prostheses inserted. Stuff that would stop anyone past a certain age, but not someone who, 88 days after the operation, he put his skis and sealskins back on his feet for a ski mountaineering excursion, another of his “passions”. «I have two titanium knees that work very well», says the lawyer Tacchini, bursting into a new laugh at the memory of a recent weekend in Paris where his kneecaps at the airport made the metal detectors ring «as always happens».
An “escape” into the villas of light which he planned to do in the saddle while practically being called crazy by his companion. Chapters of a love story with two wheels that has lasted for over half a century, begun following in the footsteps of his grandfather, director of the Gorno mines who in the 1920s rode his motorbike in Tuscany, and continued with trips of hundreds of kilometres, in particular to reach the offices of an important client, Italcementi, with companies scattered throughout Italy, including the islands. «Business and pleasure trips, with a common denominator: the vehicle, the only one capable of offering an inimitable observatory and giving an extraordinary feeling of freedom», concludes Tacchini, who, many friends assure, could easily take dozens of routes blindfolded , after having done them hundreds of times: maybe driving his “first love”, a Gerosa 48 purchased from Sandro Dall’Ara «with 100 thousand lire from the scholarship earned on the codes», or on the mythical Morini «flat head» used on Bergamo mule tracks. Or, again, on Kawasaki 500 guilty, the lawyer confesses, of burning a kilo of oil to travel from Bergamo to Trento and back. A “guilt” from which the lawyer, however, always had her absolved “because she was too beautiful to drive to be condemned”.
