The scent of the pink jersey in the air, the desire for great cycling and to learn more closely about the history of a territory and its two-wheeled epic. Last Saturday in the Gian Giacomo Arrigoni theater in San Vito al Tagliamento (PN) the book "The Bell of the Final Lap – 1897-1947 Fifty years of heroic cycling in San Vito al Tagliamento" was presented, edited by Severino Danelon with the assistance of Cesare Benvenuto and Marcello Bolletti.

During the presentation, Vice Mayor Giacomo Collarile, Culture Assessor Andrea Bruscia, the FAI Group representative for San Vito al Tagliamento Giacomo Matarrese, and the president of Pedale Sanvitese Lorena Paola Zancan took the floor. The presentation was curated by art historian and amateur cyclist Giancarlo Pauletto.

A projection of archival images summarized the book's content.

Present in the hall were Liliana Bernava, daughter of cyclist Corrado who died in 1941 from wounds sustained in Greece, and Corradino Corradini, son of cyclist Cesare and nephew of the namesake Corradino, a promising Friuli cyclist who died in 1934 at just eighteen years old.

The theater was packed, a successful evening

THE BOOK. THE BELL OF THE FINAL LAP with the subtitle 1897-1947 Fifty years of heroic cycling in San Vito al Tagliamento, is a detailed, rich and faithful reconstruction by Severino Danelon, a passionate researcher of local realities and a true San Vito native, who benefited from the patient and expert collaboration of a group of local enthusiasts with their active contribution.

It is indeed a cycling narrative, rich in chapters of interest especially to the local community but – it must be emphasized – the representation – with words and multiple evocative images – of the history of primary importance, customs and traditions of San Vito al Tagliamento

Not just pedals but representations of historical realities in a territory with a specific passion for two wheels. And the cover and back cover image depicts San Vito natives and true Friuli cyclists, riders of good value whose careers were cut short by accidents, illnesses and wartime events. For them and for the San Vito cycling movement the bell still rings and will always ring in memory.