In the historic Grande Partenza from Italy, Piedmont and the Tour de France pay homage to Fausto Coppi. Today the third stage with arrival in Turin crosses the lands of the Campionissimo and at km 70 there will be the Gran Premio della montagna in Tortona; tomorrow the fourth will start from Pinerolo, as in 2011, the city forever linked to the Cuneo-Pinerolo of the 1949 Giro, the stage of the stages of the pink race with the 192 km of Fausto’s solo breakaway.
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For the occasion, Casa Coppi, the museum dedicated to Fausto and Serse Coppi located in Castellania (Alessandria) in the family home, has decided to commemorate the two victories that the Airone obtained in the Tour de France in 1949 and 1952, with a publication and a photographic exhibition. In the garden of Casa Coppi, “Le Jardin du Tour” has been open to the public since Saturday, a photographic exhibition with some life-size images of Coppi’s passage on the roads of the Tour to celebrate his historic feats.
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In addition to this initiative, today in Turin the book “Merci Coppi” written by the journalist Francesca Monzone, historical director of Casa Coppi, will be presented: there is a greeting from the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, who visited the Campionissimo’s house-museum on January 2, and an article by Davide Cassani, director of the Partenza in Italia, which reveals some curious behind-the-scenes information. The book, also through precious unpublished photographic material, wanted to bear witness to the greatness of Coppi in 1949 and 1952, years in which he achieved the Giro-Tour double twice. Elvio Chiatellino, the Piedmontese entrepreneur and patron of cycling who brought the Tour to Pinerolo for the second time, talks about his love for Coppi and his memories of the Tour in Turin, when in 1956 there were sixty thousand spectators waiting for the arrival of the stage at the Stadio Comunale. Finally Massimo Merlano, president of the Terre di Fausto Coppi consortium and descendant of the Novi Ligure delicatessen where Coppi worked as an apprentice, takes us into the secrets of Casa Coppi and of Milano and Carrea, the angels of the Campionissimo, who remained with him until his death on January 2, 1960. The book can be requested directly from Casa Coppi: [email protected]
