CREMONA – «When I finally arrived in various Italian cities to tell the local Lions what I was doing, they found it hard to believe me». The long, very long bike trip ended a few days ago Giampietro Mariotti, of the Torrazzo Lions Club and Service representative. It was 2,400 kilometers by bike, from north to south, in 16 stages.
All with a very important social purpose: to raise funds with the aim of purchasing a van equipped for the transport of disabled people and donating it to the voluntary association ‘La città dell’uomo’ in Cremona. «A beautiful experience – says Giampietro -, which regenerates your body and mind. In fact, clocking up all these kilometers by bike is not the same as doing them in a car. It’s different: starting from the effort obviously, but above all because you have the opportunity to stop in various places and admire the view in front of you, something that if you are, for example, on the motorway you can’t do. It’s you, your thoughts and your bike. Stop”.
This is a challenge, as mentioned, also with a beneficial character: «Absolutely yes. We don’t yet know how much we managed to raise, but in about a month we will certainly have more details. As a Lions Club we also have further events planned, again for this donation, such as White Party on Friday 14th (reservations on 349 5037182) or onAperiLionsHowever, this idea still needs to be developed. During this ‘on the road’ I also had the opportunity to meet many new people belonging to the Lions Clubs of the different cities I arrived in and I must say that it was therefore a very formative experience.”
What was the most beautiful stage of your journey across the country? And the most challenging? «The hardest part was the journey between Forte dei Marmi and Cremona. La Cisa so to speak: 198 kilometers of pure climbing, which put me in a lot of difficulty. The most spectacular one I would say is the long piece Amalfi coast, from Sorrento to Naples. It took me longer than expected to do that stretch: in fact, I was always standing still looking at the view.”
During the evening organized to celebrate the date of establishment of the Club, an electronic connection via zoom with Giampietro was also made possible, who at that precise moment had just finished his ninth stage. The anniversary was also enriched by the generous donation from the Amici della Torta Fritta association, again to help purchase the van for ‘La città dell’uomo’.
They were then explained by the president Francesco Pietrogrande the numerous services of the year 2023-2024. These include the collection and delivery to the Lions collection center of 4,000 pairs of glasses (around 15,000 collected throughout District 108 Ib3), thanks to the commitment of the members Manu Bonetti And Roberto Guarneri to whom an award was presented. At the end of the evening the surprise: the presentation to the president by the members of the Melvin Jones Fellow honor, the recognition of the Lions Club International Foundation, for the commitment and dedication to the humanitarian service provided during his presidency.
