Seventy years ago - it was 1955 - his first Giro d'Italia. Like a fairy tale. A training ride in Brianza with Fiorenzo Magni, Magni complaining about a leg pain, him observing his pedaling, a pedaling that wasn't round but "like a piston", inviting Magni to his workshop in Cambiago on Via Garibaldi number 10 in front of a tavern, Magni almost indignant in front of the workshop, calling it a "tiny room", but then giving in, him adjusting the pedal while Magni "sits in front of the fireplace waiting for the diagnosis", the pain miraculously disappearing, the order (Magni would establish, order, command) to immediately present himself at Vigorelli to the mechanical wizard Faliero Masi, Masi unloading 44 wheels, "here, figure it out", him mounting and centering them from 10 in the morning to 7 in the evening, authorized to climb onto the Nivea team car as Masi's assistant, "his second, but only for a short time", "food and lodging".

Ernesto Colnago - Engineer Ernesto Colnago, the ninety-three-year-old Ernesto Colnago, honorary graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Milan Polytechnic - telling his story, which is also our story, because it's an Italian story, a cycling story, a story that belongs to everyone. He does so through nuances, embroideries, digressions, variations on a theme, like a jazz pianist in front of a standard. The bicycle delivered to Gianni Motta, "used but just right" and "he still owes me 14,000 lire, but it doesn't matter anymore". The bicycle prepared for Eddy Merckx, the one for the hour record, "drilled in the handlebar, the chainring, the chain", "it weighed 5 kilos and 750 grams", "those from the Queen - those from the chain - told me if you break the chain, we'll sue you", and the chain didn't break. The bicycle with Enzo Ferrari, "he warned me, at 54 - he thundered - I turned to the pawnshop to pay Ferrari's debts". Bicycles with straight front forks "start-finish", "everyone will laugh at me, I said, no, he said, everyone will copy you". Bicycles for Paris-Roubaix, Giorgio Squinzi calling me, "what if they break?", he asked, "they won't break", I guaranteed, then I started praying. Not just bicycles but also riders, "I must dialogue with the riders", "I would ask, listen, absorb everything", "I was a sponge".

Colnago mythical in gestures when, rubbing thumb and index finger, he accompanies "look, here you need to spend". Colnago stentorian in words when he confesses "born to make quality, not quantity". Colnago almost comic when remembering Russian Viktor Kapitonov, Olympic champion in Rome, who begged him to give bicycles to eastern riders, Colnago ventured "ten-twelve?", Kapitonov sighed "about forty" and listed "USSR, DDR, Poland...".Colnago jazzy when, like jumping on a piano keyboard, he plays "here, there, everywhere". Colnago moved and moving when, finally, he remembers his Vincenzina, "together for 70 years".

Colnago, marketing innovator, inventor of smart working, startup pioneer, protagonist of Giravolta.