A few hours after the last passage through the Apennines in the Giro d'Italia, which occurred with the 12th stage largely dedicated to the Matildic areas, the Mayor of Castelnovo Monti Emanuele Ferrari draws a balance of this truly extraordinary moment for the territory.

"These two days, the stage finishing in Castelnovo and the passing stage in Felina, immediately evoke two images for me. The first is the typical image of cycling enthusiasm, with a public choosing their position to watch the race and then waiting, waiting for many hours for the Giro's passage. We saw people, groups, and families arriving in campers and positioning themselves on the route even from Tuesday evening for Wednesday's stage. An active waiting that grows gradually, for a moment that lasts just a handful of seconds, a few minutes at most, to see the cyclists pass by and encourage them. Even we as a municipal administration did the same: we've essentially been waiting for this stage since January 13th, and we never stopped. We carried out enormous work, involving all the souls of the community who responded exceptionally to this call from the Giro d'Italia, to the idea of being able to write a great chapter in the novel of this extraordinary sporting competition that has always been the novel of our country's evolving history, and to ensure that the Apennines would remain in this novel as a point of light, a sign of beauty and sharing. They also endured some inconveniences, for the necessary work and road closures, understanding however that a great result was being pursued. A work that was repaid first of all by the satisfaction of the organizers: I spoke with Mauro Vegni, Giro director, with Giusy Virelli, cycling sport & event manager for Rcs, with Luca Gialanella from Gazzetta dello Sport, and they all had extraordinary words of praise and even amazement for the organization of the day and our territory. For the occasion, the President of the Emilia-Romagna Region Michele De Pascale also came to Castelnovo, along with Regional Sports Councilor Roberta Frisoni and Emilia-Romagna sports policy coordinator Giammaria Manghi, who has accompanied us in this challenge from the beginning - signs that we truly managed to make a bit of Giro history, and that day will remain in memory as a symbol for everyone who lives and works in this territory".

"It was an extraordinary showcase for the Apennine National Park and its excellences, the Bismantova Stone, the Triassic Gypsum, but it was also an opportunity to rediscover recent and remote, unpublished stories, as told by writer Fabio Genovesi during the stage's television coverage - stories that build the connection between citizens, hospitality, and places".

"The second image that comes to my mind - continues Emanuele Ferrari - is that of a stone in a pond. As a municipal administration, we initially threw a stone with this challenge, and this generated increasingly larger concentric circles, starting from the work group led by stage coordinator Franco Castagnetti and our head of sports, territory promotion and tourism Monia Malvolti, and from here expanding like circles forming in water, always larger, until reaching the entire community: on Wednesday there were almost 400 people actively involved in managing hospitality, safety, communication, reception, and access to different areas of the center. I want to thank the entire town for how it responded to this challenge: the merchants and businesses, the Green Cross, the Alpini and Civil Protection, the Pedal University and the municipal staff who made a tremendous effort and managed to give body to a soul made of many nuances that was the Giro d'Italia stage. Even yesterday, despite not-too-favorable weather, there was a great square in Felina, with the Giro Caravan and the passing group, which was really going fast despite the wet asphalt: it was another moment of great celebration, with Felina having already shown great harmony with the race by illuminating the 'Salame' in pink and hosting the gala dinner in April. We passed a great test as a collective, we wanted to send a strong and symbolic message to look to the future with confidence because we are a generous community, capable of great enthusiasm, of impulses, of generosity, of proposing ourselves to Italy and the world with our history, our wonderful places and also with the strength of our bonds".