Everyone standing for Doctor Ernesto Colnago! The Polytechnic of Milan today awarded an Honorary Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering to the great Brianza manufacturer, who at 93 years old enchanted a passionate and attentive audience of friends and students.

"On behalf of the Italian Republic, I confer upon Ernesto Colnago the honorary master's degree in mechanical engineering. The graduate may use the title of master's degree in the forms, methods, and responsibilities provided by law. In carrying out his work, the graduate has already demonstrated the dignity that the engineering profession entails." With these words, Rector Donatella Sciuto, together with Department Director Marco Belloli and Dean of the School of Industrial and Information Engineering Lorenzo Dozio, attributed the engineering degree.

Many friends wanted to celebrate this magnificent milestone. First and foremost, his family, whom the Master of Cambiago, visibly happy and emotional, wanted to thank. "The most important thing in my life, it's a pity that only one person is missing, my Vincenzina, with whom I traveled the paths of my life for seventy years and who has been accompanying me in my thoughts for seven years."

His daughter Anna, with her son-in-law Vanni Brambilla, grandson Alessandro, daughter-in-law Eleonora, and little girls Carlotta and Ludovica. With them, many friends and professionals from the business world who wanted to bring their greetings and embrace to the great Ernesto. Among them, former Minister of Development Vittorio Colao, lifelong friends Fabio Capello and Beppe Saronni, Gianni Bugno with Roberto Visentini, Gianni Motta with Paolo Savoldelli, and the Squinzi family, represented by Mapei Spa CEO Veronica, accompanied by her husband Emanuele Della Pasqua. The list of friends was long and distinguished, for a day to remember and keep in the heart. Colnago then gave a "lectio magistralis" of over half an hour with the help of Pier Bergonzi, friend and director of Sport Week, who prompted him to recall memories. "I owe so much to three people: Fiorenzo Magni, Enzo Ferrari, and Giorgio Squinzi," the Master recalled, who at 93 years old left everyone speechless with the naturalness with which he wore the academic gown and cap. "I still can't believe it," he repeated to his friends. "I have received many honors, but this is the one that makes me most proud, the culmination of a life dedicated to research and bicycle development."

Many episodes of a life were recalled, but above all, his innovativeness in the world of bicycles was highlighted, bringing carbon, straight forks, and disc brakes to racing bikes. "I'm a bit behind schedule, but what I've achieved today is truly a great milestone," the Master explained to those present, who not only enchanted the audience but the entire faculty, starting with the Magnificent Rector Donatella Sciuto. "This is my first Honoris Causa - explained the rector of the Polytechnic of Milan since January 2023 - and I am proud and happy to be able to confer this recognition to an excellence of Italian entrepreneurship, who has elevated Italian genius in the world."

What a fantastic story of Ernesto Colnago, elevated to Master by the industrial world and now an engineer by the will of an academic excellence. From the bike given to Pope Wojtyla in the Vatican in 1979 to the meeting with Enzo Ferrari in 1980 to introduce carbon frames in cycling, with straight forks (and disc brakes first mounted on a racing bike), which overcame skepticism at the 1995 Paris-Roubaix, won by Franco Ballerini, and reached their sublimation with the historic first, second, and third places of three Mapei riders: Museeuw, Bortolami, and Tafi. And then that jewel of technology and research from Eddy Merckx's Hour Record bike in 1972: 5,750 grams of aluminum, titanium, beryllium, and a lightness ahead of its time by 50 years, "invented" by drilling the handlebars and chain with a manual drill.

A story that began when he was just thirteen years old in 1945, when he falsified his age to join Gloria, a bicycle factory on viale Abruzzi in Milan, and an leg injury forced him to "invent smart working", working from home and understanding that "I earned more in a week than in a month - the Master Engineer recalled. I didn't want money, but material to build bicycles: so the marginality was total." He started in a "small room" where Fiorenzo Magni didn't want to enter to have a crank fixed that young Ernesto had noticed was crooked, but his trajectory was already marked: that boy was going to be great.

A degree matured from an endless series of innovations recalled by an emotional Professor Marco Belloli in his laudatio. And the reasons read by Lorenzo Dozio, dean of the School of Industrial Engineering, "the Colnago Master frame, structured with star-section tubes to increase frame stiffness, the introduction of straight-legged forks" and "the first commercialization of road bikes equipped with disc brakes". And further: "Not only has he created mechanical jewels - said Rector Donatella Sciuto - but he has taught entire generations passion for work, commitment, dedication, entrepreneurship, vision, and pragmatism, which is what we also try to teach our students". Applause, lots of applause. Only applause. Ernesto Colnago, the Master Engineer, looks ecstatic. He seems to be dreaming, perhaps he is just thinking.