Sunday, November 14, 2010

Ciclomuseo Gino Bartali

I recently had the chance to get to the Bartali museum in Ponte a Ema, just south of Florence. Once you're lucky enough to find it, try your luck at finding a parking spot in this tiny little village!

Once inside, you'll work your way up to the second floor, which houses various memorabilia of not only Gino, but various vintage bikes, photos, jerseys... the usual. There were three bikes in particular that were of interest to me. One was the Galmozzi-made track bike, which was under glass so the photos didn't turn out. Same goes for an early Bartali model. But I did manage to salvage this one... a Bartali mounted with the Nieddu-made Cervino shifter. Towards the end of his career, Gino invested into this system, which would eventually fade from memory after the introduction of the Campagnolo derailleur.

The museum is definitely worth the trip if you are near Florence. While not as bike-centric as the Bevilacqua collection, it has a decent amount of equipment to go along with the immensely important history of Gino.

No comments:

Post a Comment