Porcari is a small town on the outskirts of Lucca where there is great excitement. On Wednesday, May 20, there will be the Porcari-Chiavari stage (195 km), the eleventh stage of the 2026 Giro d'Italia. Porcari has a very active stage committee also for side events at the Giro d'Italia: there are as many as 20.

Among these is also the late afternoon talk show on Monday, May 18, the second rest day of the Giro d'Italia. "Porcari races with the Giro – The Greats of Cycling" is the title of the show organized by the Municipality in collaboration with Paper District and the Giuseppe Lazzareschi Foundation. Starting at 6 PM, the Lazzareschi Foundation will host the debate conducted by Milanese journalist Alessandro Brambilla. In addition to local authorities, "The Greats of Cycling" will feature Francesco Moser, "Diablo" Claudio Chiappucci, Michele Bartoli, and Andrea Tafi. Women's cycling will also have significant space thanks to the participation of Edita Pucinskaite and Fabiana Luperini, great queens of stage races, and sprinter Mara Mosole. There will also be Brunello Fanini, formerly organizer of the women's Giro d'Italia, now of the international "Toscana" race.

AND WEDNESDAY... Wednesday around 12:30 PM, the 11th stage (Paper District) of the Giro d'Italia will depart from Porcari to Chiavari. The start will be given by Michele Bartoli, the "Little Lion of Flanders" who has given sports fans and his numerous supporters an infinity of emotions throughout his career. Porcari turns pink.

The entire town takes to the streets to accompany the departure from Via Lazzareschi in front of Sofidel, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary on this occasion. The city of Porcari has actively participated in the event, promoting various side events through the Stage Committee chaired by Lido Del Carlo, and the community has become an active part of the event, celebrating its own culture and bringing together people of all ages because the Giro remains a popular celebration and makes the citizens of the towns that host it proud. It's a beautiful sight to see the shop windows decorated by merchants where the pink color blazes among decorations, jerseys, and bicycles.

MICHELE BARTOLI, A FANINI PRODUCT WHO BECAME MISTER MONUMENT CLASSICS
Michele Bartoli is about to turn 56 years old and has been living in Monaco since childhood, when at just 8 years old he first pedaled with the Fanini Team. Today he is a personal coach for some top-level athletes such as Richard Carapaz, Mikkel Honoré, Jefferson Alexander Cepeda, and Markel Beloki (who is having an excellent Giro) all athletes from EF Education-Easy Poste and other professionals. He also manages the Michele Bartoli Academy, a cycling school based in Vicopisano dedicated to categories ranging from very young riders to juniors, teaching them the values of friendship, teamwork, and self-discipline: all principles at the foundation of their development. Values that Bartoli teaches well, having accumulated considerable experience going through the entire youth ranks in the Fanini Team up to the second-year junior category when he moved to Montecarlo-Fanini. In amateur categories alone, he boasts more than 200 victories.

"My school - says the Little Lion of Flanders - would like to resemble the one that Ivano Fanini had many years ago, an absolute leader in managing cycling teams, transforming the use of the bicycle into a path of development and education in promoting the motor growth of children."

Michele Bartoli also has an important history with the Giro d'Italia. After several placings, he managed to score in the 13th stage from Carpi to Schio of the 1998 edition when he beat Giuseppe Guerini and Paolo Bettini in a three-way sprint. But his prestige at the international level was achieved especially by winning the Monument classics (2 Liège-Bastogne-Liège, 2 Giri di Lombardia, and 1 Tour of Flanders, the race that fascinated him most so much that even today young admirers in those places ask him for his autograph). If we add to these victories the Zurich Championship, the Flèche Wallonne, and the Amstel Gold Race, what emerges is one of the most successful Italians in important one-day races of all time. To his seventy professional victories, almost all of high level, must be added in his palmares two World Cups (97 and 98) in a professional career spanning from 1992 to 2004. A finisher of great tactical intelligence capable of often being number one on different terrains, from cobblestones to steep climbs. He mastered the pace and learned to read the race, transforming tactics into strategy. He infused power combined with class as the kilometers and elevation gain increased. He began to learn the value of sacrifice as a child, and the training received throughout his entire youth career in the Fanini jersey remains a fundamental pillar of his sporting identity.