Gianni Sommariva was many things, but above all he was a "madly passionate" cycling enthusiast, an "extraordinarily" talented interpreter, a "remarkably" action-oriented man who overturned solutions, and above all found them, rewriting rules and proposing new ones. He was an incurable cycling fanatic who contributed to writing new chapters in the history of cycling in our country, who for years was a point of reference, a starting and finishing point: a model.

Gianni was many things in the world of his bicycle, with that energetic and tumultuous way of his, decisive and precise. He dreamed with his eyes wide open, and like an eternal young boy, he enjoyed proposing things that would keep our sport always in step with the times. He was the greatest of the small-scale organizers, although this definition would probably have infuriated him, because he never felt second to anyone, quite the opposite.

Gianni was a sports director from 1962 at G.S. Granfort, with which he immediately won the Italian women's championship with Elisabetta Maffeis and the prestigious Coppa Adriana, and subsequently with G.S. Domus where he had the opportunity to direct riders of the caliber of Pietro Algeri (track world champion in Varese), Fausto Bertoglio and Orfeo Pizzoferrato.

Gianni was an organizer. After a series of events at regional level, in collaboration with the then Italian national team coach Mario Ricci, he organized the pre-world championships weeks of '73-'74-'75-'76 and launched the "Settimana Bergamasca" (later, much later, Settimana Lombarda): this was a golden season for Gianni, for his Domus, for his entire cycling family that followed him in everything (Lance Armstrong, just to name one, made his appearance here, at the "Bergamasca" and very young with the United States jersey, he won).

In '76 he organized the world championships in Ostuni and the Italian amateur championship in S. Pellegrino Terme won by Vittorio Algeri. The following year he was called by President Adriano Rodoni to the presidency of the National Technical Sector where, among other things, he introduced valorization points for athletes and, given the high number of junior riders at the time, he divided the categories into first and second year.
During his presidency, Italy won the amateur world championships in Walkenburg with Gianni Giacomini in '79 and at the Los Angeles Olympics '84 the 100 km team time trial with Marcello Bartalini, Marco Giovannetti, Claudio Vandelli and Eros Poli. In the years '85-'86 with the federal organizing committee he organized the amateur Giro d'Italia, and then again with G.S. Domus, he organized the junior world championships in Bergamo '87, won by Pavel Tonkov and American Catherine Marshall. He organized numerous Coppe Italia, an event of great technical importance at the time, and for 10 years four stage races in the south (Settimana Pugliese, Corsa del Sole, Trofeo Cee and Giro di Sicilia).

Gianni was also a political figure, holding the positions of Provincial President of Bergamo and Regional President of Lombardy before his Federal vice-presidency.

Gianni was many things, many more than these. So much more.