The exhibition "Eddy Merckx, Eighty Years of a Legend" will be inaugurated this morning at 11:30 AM, with the prestigious patronage of the UEC, curated by architect Carola Gentilini, Director of the Madonna del Ghisallo Cycling Museum, and created to celebrate the 80th birthday of the all-time champion. Through objects, images, footage, and testimonies, the exhibition recounts his glorious victories and the impact he had on cycling and world sports.

The initiative is organized by the Foundation in collaboration with Faema, now part of the Cimbali Group. The MUMAC, the group's corporate museum, has been supporting the Ghisallo Museum for ten years, in a shared narrative of history and passion. The exhibition is a collective gift to the great Eddy Merckx, participated in by many friends led by the Molteni Foundation!

Realized with written and audio contributions from cycling and historical figures like Pier Bergonzi, Franco Bortuzzo, Cosimo Cito, Beppe Conti, Maurizio Crosetti, Andrea De Luca, Claudio Gregori, Gianfranco Josti, Sergio Meda, Gian Paolo Ormezzano, Marco Pastonesi, Luciana Rota, the exhibition is a dive into the winning history of the Belgian champion, an authentic number one who challenges comparisons that border on myth.

The exhibition is made possible through collaboration with Faema, a historic Milanese brand producing espresso coffee equipment, which for 80 years has been one of the most significant protagonists of the "Italian bar" scene. A reality inextricably linked to cycling, having sponsored a team that won numerous national and international cycling competitions. This historic company is now part of Cimbali Group, an Italian company that, through the MUMAC, Corporate Museum of the Group, has been supporting the initiatives of the Ghisallo Cycling Museum for 10 years: the strong bond between the two museums is based on the jointly narrated heritage related to Faema.

"With great emotion for the renewed efforts of the museum foundation, we are inaugurating this retrospective dedicated to a champion with a capital C who is also a great Friend with a capital A of the Ghisallo Museum. We are celebrating him on his 80th birthday, awaiting him at the exhibition in June, whenever he wants and can. Our relationships are close thanks to his human and sporting friendship with Marino Vigna, Olympic Cyclist, who has always been present and active not only as a foundation advisor but also as a passionate supporter of the museum," said Ghisallo Museum President Antonio Molteni.

"The bond between our Faema brand and cycling is a historic connection that also ties us closely to Eddy Merckx, considered the greatest cyclist of all time," commented Cavalier Maurizio Cimbali, President of Cimbali Group. "His legendary feats marked an era, and for Faema, they were a stimulus to continue sponsoring sporting events that over the years have contributed to the company's success. Passion, courage, and determination are values we believe in, then as now, and that guide our work every day."

The exhibition will display memorabilia, previously unseen documents, jerseys, and bicycles used by the "Cannibal" throughout his entire career. A special section will be composed of a selection of Faema photographic panels from the widespread exhibition "Faema 80x80", celebrating the brand's 80 years, which coincide with the champion's 80th birthday (1945). These images trace some moments of the Merckx/Faema/cycling collaboration, highlighting legendary performances of Eddy Merckx, the all-conquering rider of the white and red team from 1968 to 1970, led by general manager Fiorenzo Magni, founder of the Ghisallo museum, Vincenzo Giacotto, and sports director Marino Vigna: in three seasons, Merckx conquered over 120 victories (out of 525 total, an impressive figure that establishes him as the world's most winning rider).

Merckx won five Tours and five Giros, achieving the double in the same season three times, plus seven Milan-San Remos, five Liège-Bastogne-Liège, three World Championships (plus one as an amateur), three Paris-Roubaix, the Vuelta a España, the Tour of Switzerland, the Hour Record, 34 Tour de France stages, and 25 Giro d'Italia stages!

In addition to the aforementioned photographic panels, MUMAC will also provide some issues of Caffè Club magazine - created by FAEMA between the '60s and '70s - a true representation of the social context revolving around a cup of coffee, perhaps while watching the Cannibal's exploits. Among these, one issue stands out for its uniqueness: on the cover is Eddy Merckx's face, immortalized in 2006 by photographer Maurizio Galimberti using his iconic "ready-made" Polaroid technique, during a collaboration with Faema. A special tribute that makes this piece a unique exemplar, loaded with symbolic and emotional significance.

Never-before-seen images of the champion within the company's walls, along with a reproduction of a series of delightful illustrations by the famous humor cartoonist Marino Guarguaglino (known as "Marino", an illustrator who gained great fame through cartoons published in Guerin Sportivo about major Italian sports protagonists of the Sixties), published in some Caffè Club issues, and finally, an iconic coffee machine of the time, the Faema E61 first series, will complete the exhibition.

"After the Tour de France exhibition of 2024, a great collective success also thanks to the participation of international collectors and museums, we return to putting at the center of our hearts and historical attention the man, not just anyone, but the great Eddy Merckx - to fulfill our mission of historical research and memory enhancement for everyone in the home of all cyclists. A work that once again proves exciting for the sensitivity of a world made of passion and respect for the achievements of its champions. Eddy deserves his own dedicated museum that goes beyond the images of 525 victories and the countless bicycles built for him, because he is a symbol of winning and simultaneously human cycling that nourishes the collective sporting Memory through memories," stated Carola Gentilini, Director of the Ghisallo Museum.

"We are very honored to have contributed to the creation of an exhibition for the great champion Eddy Merckx, who shares not only a passion for two wheels with our Faema brand but also the year of birth," comments Barbara Foglia - Director of MUMAC. "This initiative is also an opportunity for us to celebrate a partnership with the Madonna del Ghisallo Cycling Museum that has lasted ten years and traces a line of continuity between cycling and Faema, a historic brand of the Group, and the proximity of museums aimed at spreading Italian cycling and coffee culture."

Cimbali Group's strong connection with the world of two wheels originates from FAEMA's glorious past, one of the Group's main historic brands: indeed, since the '50s, Faema has united its name with the world of cycling by undertaking one of the first sports sponsorships and creating a legendary combination that has remained impressed in the memory of more than one generation thanks to the successes and feats of champions like Rik Van Looy, Hugo Koblet, Charly Gaul, Gianni Motta, and later, in the late '60s, Eddie Merckx, Vittorio Adorni, Italo Zilioli, Victor Van Schil, and Guido Reybrouck, to name a few. The brand's direct link with cycling resumed in the last three past seasons, with a significant sponsorship of the Giro d'Italia, supported from 2022 to 2024.