A morning filled with special flavor, made of memories, emotions and pages of cycling history coming back to life. On the occasion of the start of the eleventh stage of the Giro d'Italia, Porcari – Chiavari, the headquarters and the Amore e Vita – Fanini Museum welcomed two iconic figures of Italian cycling: Stefano Allocchio, General Director of the Giro d'Italia, and Roberto Amadio, current Technical Commissioner of the Italian National professional team.

Stefano Allocchio was the first to cross the museum's threshold, wanting to visit his long-time friend Ivano Fanini, gifting a morning filled with emotions. Walking through the museum's halls, surrounded by thousands of photographs, historic posters, memorabilia, bicycles, jerseys and trophies, the two retraced together an entire life dedicated to cycling.

Memories resurfaced one after another, bringing to mind the years of racing challenges, when Allocchio, as a rider, competed in sprints with athletes from the Fanini team, including Paolo Cimini, Alessio Di Basco and Maurizio Molinari, the latter having been an integral part of the Giro d'Italia staff for years.

Particularly intense was the moment when Allocchio saw his own jersey again, donated to Ivano Fanini and the museum on the occasion of the 2024 Loyalty to Sport Award, now preserved in the evocative "Trophy Room", the symbolic space of the team's memory, where the jerseys that marked the long history of the Fanini – Amore e Vita team are displayed, including the prestigious 12 world champion jerseys won at the World Championships and the extraordinary 76 National Champion jerseys won in 44 different nations, including the Italian one of Pierino Gavazzi.

But the emotions were not yet over.

Just ten minutes after Allocchio's departure towards the Giro village, Roberto Amadio also arrived at the Fanini headquarters, a figure of absolute prestige in international cycling, former manager of champions of the caliber of Vincenzo Nibali and Peter Sagan during the Liquigas era and today Technical Commissioner of the Italian National professional team. Among the memorabilia preserved in the Amore e Vita – Fanini Museum is also the world champion jersey won by Roberto Amadio at the World Championship in the team time trial, another precious piece of cycling history proudly preserved within the museum.

For Amadio too, the visit to the museum became a journey through time: a path through memories, sacrifices, victories, hardship and great satisfactions that marked an entire life dedicated to two wheels.

"I am very happy and deeply moved," comments Ivano Fanini. "Living a day like this has enormous meaning for me. On one hand the Giro d'Italia starting from Porcari, just a few meters from our headquarters; on the other hand the visit of two great friends and two important personalities of our cycling like Stefano Allocchio and Roberto Amadio. These are authentic satisfactions, those that have special value. I was struck by how much participation they relived those moments that they themselves, as riders, managers and cycling men, experienced firsthand. Seeing them become emotional together with me, remembering episodes, people and stories of an entire life, was something unique and hardly repeatable. Beyond friendship, we are united by mutual esteem and respect: values that go beyond any sporting result. These are the same ideals on which I built Amore e Vita and on which I have always tried to base my life".

A day that once again confirmed how cycling, beyond successes and victories, is above all memory, friendship and human bonds destined to remain in time.

The satisfaction of patron Ivano Fanini, however, was further amplified just a few kilometers after the stage start. During the Rai television broadcast of the Giro d'Italia, in fact, the commentator and former Maglia Rosa Silvio Martinello, world champion and Olympic champion on the track, wanted to dedicate some minutes to telling the story of Ivano Fanini and the Amore e Vita – Fanini team, gifting a moment as unexpected as it was moving.

During the broadcast, Martinello recalled the birth of the team, founded in 1948, retracing the long and prestigious history of the team and highlighting the great results achieved over the years. A special passage was dedicated to the historic 15 consecutive participations in the Giro d'Italia and the stage victories achieved by the Fanini team, which contributed to writing important pages of Italian cycling. Martinello also wanted to remember the extraordinary figure of the late Michela Fanini, Ivano's granddaughter and daughter of Brunello, an unforgettable champion who managed to win the women's Giro d'Italia, the Italian Championship and the bronze medal at the World Championships at just 21 years old, also recalling how Brunello Fanini himself has been organizing the women's Giro della Toscana in her memory for years.

During the broadcast, moreover, Rai also showed images of a house located near the stage start, decorated with an extraordinary tribute dedicated to the history of the Fanini Teams and the great champions who grew up in Fanini colors. A tribute particularly directed especially at Mario Cipollini and Michele Bartoli, two authentic symbols of the team's history. For Mario Cipollini, protagonist of legendary pages of world cycling, the satisfaction was even greater considering that, despite the recent surgical intervention undergone just a few days ago, he was present at the Giro's starting village. Michele Bartoli, another historic champion from the Fanini house, was instead the protagonist of the official ceremony for the stage start together with the Mayor of Porcari, symbolically giving the start to the race.

A public recognition of great value, which gifted a further intense emotion to the Lucca-based patron.

"Hearing our story told on live television and retracing a life made of sacrifices, passion and love for cycling really moved me deeply," said Ivano Fanini. "Listening to such beautiful and deserved words from Silvio Martinello touched me profoundly. These are moments that reach the heart and that repay all the work done over so many years. It was another great joy in an already unforgettable day".