"No previous Giro dispute and no Tour de France edition – wrote Emilio Colombo, director of the 'Gazzetta dello Sport', in the lengthy editorial on the front page of Monday, June 10, 1935 – had ever seemed so passionate to us, for our spirit, our constant need for investigation, our insatiable thirst for emotions, as the race concluded yesterday in the Civic Stadium scenario". And again, this time in the first person: "None has ever seemed to me so rich in episodes, details, facts, issues, rivalry, pages of beautiful sport". First, Vasco Bergamaschi.

His sister Bianca was there the other evening in the amphitheater of San Giacomo delle Segnate, in the lower Mantua area, to remember the ancient winner. Bianca is 95 years old, the tenth and last child (four males, four females and two stillborn), her father the owner of a grocery store, her mother multiplying herself helping him behind the counter and then managing and cleaning the house, simplicity as a condition and education, also as destiny. Originating from the Malcantone hamlet, which despite its bad-sounding name enjoyed a school, thus a place of study, and a kiln, thus workplaces, the little Bergamaschi attended the essential (elementary school) before having to earn to survive. Vasco, number two, in Ivo's oven, number four, had the task of transporting bread bags and small bags here and there in that flat area of Mantua. "As quickly as possible" - Bianca explained -. "This is how his vocation revealed itself. And thus, in the wake of Learco Guerra, the inspiration".

Bianca recalled how Vasco was like a father and brother to her: "He was reserved, even silent, he was resistant, even inexhaustible, he was generous, even too much". A domestique, he had written it on his skin and in his heart: "Capable of sacrificing himself, starting with Guerra". It was Guerra himself who gave him the nickname "Singapore": "Because of the almond-shaped eyes, a physical characteristic of part of our family". And Vasco was not the only Bergamaschi who was fast on a bicycle: "There was also Norberto, and perhaps he was even faster than him. Unfortunately, he was disqualified. It happened in a race. He arrived first at the finish line, but carrying an old woman on the handlebars. He had picked her up along the way in the final part of the race. The judges did not forgive him. It was his last race. Otherwise, who knows what he would have achieved".

Bianca lives in Sermide in the old family house, where she keeps some of Vasco's memorabilia: "A water bottle, a bathrobe received as a prize, a box of photographs... I would not want it to end up in the hands of a private collector, I would prefer to hand them over to a municipal administration or a civic archive", probably to the Municipality of San Giacomo delle Segnate. A documentary has been made about Bianca, directed by Barbara Bizzarri, music by Daniele Goldoni, scenes shot between Malcantone, Concordia and Poggio Rusco: the story of a courageous woman and a supportive community, which begins with World War II, goes through partisan couriers, post-war reconstruction and the economic boom, and reaches the present day. The documentary will be screened on April 12 at 5 pm at the Lux Cinema Theater, via IV Novembre 6, Quistello (Mantua), and on April 27 at 5 pm in the cloister of San Francesco, Carducci square, San Giovanni in Persiceto (Bologna).