MEAL TIME. WITH ALBERTO, DINO AND «MARCOPOLOAPEDALI« CHINA IS CLOSER

China is not nearby. Twelve thousand kilometers. By bike it is a journey, an adventure, an undertaking. But some might also consider it a bet, recklessness, madness. Seven hundred years after the death of Marco Polo, who traveled to China on horseback but with horses, mules and camels and not with a bicycle and it took him three years, Alberto Fiorin and Dino Facchinetti, 67 and 64 years old, Venetians and from the Pedale Veneziano, will retrace the Silk Road: from Venice to Ljubljana, Belgrade, Istanbul, Trabzon, Tbilisi, Baku, Ashgabat, Samarkand, Tashkent up to Beijing. Departure on April 25ththe day of Saint Mark, the evangelist, the patron saint of Venice to whom Polo also owes its name. The arrival – barring unforeseen events – is early August, after 82 stages and 17 days of rest, i.e. visits and institutional meetings. Returning home by plane. Fourteen hours. In comparison, nothing.

China is not nearby. Twelve countries. Two gravel bikes, four bags (clothing, spare parts and tools, spare food), no tents. Borders (the one between Georgia and Azerbaijan has been closed since Covid, “except in exceptional cases”, and also thanks to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it was possible to bring him back here), deserts (in Turkmenistan), plateaus (in Kazakhstan). Climb, dirt roads. Embassies, visas. Fiorin and Facchinetti have cycled halfway around the world, even already on one part, the first, of these roads. They explored Patagonia, they went to Egypt, they wandered through Scandinavia. They know how to move. By strength of legs, but also of head. They have energy to spare, but also curiosity and prudence, courage and desire. They ride out of an irresistible need, and certainly not for money. These journeys only enrich you inside.

China is not nearby. Sixty-five thousand meters of altitude difference. They had already tried more than twenty years ago, Fiorin and nine others, but Fiorin himself hadn’t made it. No revenge, especially since Fiorin had never thought about it again. Then the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s death, an opportunity, now or never. Now the situation seems even more complicated than 23 years ago, because this is certainly not the easiest period to travel between wars and attacks, between suspicions and mistrust, between natural disasters and stronger cultural differences. But the bicycle is an instrument of peace, and those who ride a bike still carry a peaceful, unarmed, friendly, and always simple, clean, sustainable message. The two of them, their two bicycles, no vehicle in tow.

China is not nearby. Fiorin and Facchinetti have been preparing for months, cycling and spiritually, to this expedition. Knowing Fiorin, a cyclonaut and author of pedal and walking guides, something will be born. In the meantime, it will be possible to follow them, if not actually accompany them, through photographs and on-board notes on the Ediciclo websitededicated pages on Instagram and Facebook to Marcopoloapedalidaily connections with Caterpillar on Rai Radio 2. And perhaps precisely with them China will seem a little closer to us.