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Madonna Del Ghisallo - A Church Dedicated To Cyclists
By spokesman | June 16, 2008
The Madonna Del Ghisallo is a church in Magreglio, Italy that is dedicated to cyclists. The church is located on the top of a steep hill that is always included in the Giro De Lombardi and has been included in the Giro D’Italia. The church is filled with cycling memorabilia and tributes to great cyclists of the past. There are bicycles from Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartali and other champions. There are tributes to famous cyclists who have died too young such as Fabio Casartelli (a native of that region of Italy and teammate of Lance Armstrong, who died in the 1995 Tour De France at age 25) and Marco Pantani (the Giro D’Italia and Tour De France winner who died at age 34).
The church is named after a legendary Marian apparition. According to the legend, the Medieval count Ghisallo was being attacked by bandits when he saw an image of Virgin Mary. He ran to it and was saved from the robbers. The apparition became known as the Madonna Del Ghisallo, and she became the patron saint of local travellers. In 1949 a local priest, Father Ermelindo Vigano (whose bicycle is in the church), proposed that Madonna Del Ghisallo (the apparition) be declared the patroness of cyclists. This was confirmed by Pope Pius XII. Since that time the collection of cycling memorabilia and tributes at the church has grown. A museum was added at the site and completed in 2006. The Museo Del Ciclismo is adjacent to the church and will be the subject of a future post on this blog.
Many cyclists choose to visit the Church and Museum by biking up the steep hill. I will have a post later this week on bicycle shop in Bellagio, Italy where you can rent a bicycle for the ride. The video with this post is a slide show of photos of the church.
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Topics: Italy, Professional Racing |
June 30th, 2008 at 10:11 am
[…] Madonna Del Ghisallo - A Church Dedicated To Cyclists […]
July 27th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Here’s a group that rents bicycles and delivers them all over northern Italy next time you are in the area and need a bike: www.BikeRentalsPlus.com