Ciclo Museo Gino Bartali

Ciclo Museo Gino Bartali

As the cartoon character "Rocket J. Squirrel" used to say: "Now for something you'll really like." Compared to the mostly modern aesthetic of the NAHBS, we were really reminded of how much we like vintage bicycles or as they call 'em here- bici d'epoca.

Finally! We came and they were open.

We tried a few years ago but it was closed up tight with just a cranky voice on the intercom at the door growling at us.

Nowadays it's been taken over by the museums of Firenze, so things are more organized with a real staff and everything.

This is far from a Museum of Champions or the Ghisallo museum but if you're in the Florence area, it's not far away and worth a look.

They don't even charge you to get in!

It's basically one large room full of bikes.

Lots of bikes, not only bikes that Bartali rode,

but also bikes of his teammates and rivals,

along with other mementos,

photos and displays

including this cute way to display jerseys

and lots of photos.

Gino even had motorcycles with his name on them! We knew about the razor blades, but didn't see any of those here.

We popped into a little trattoria in the town for pranzo after our visit, including this bottle of vino. Cin Cin!

Museo Gino Bartali

Note: Visits to two great museums of cycling are available from Piedmont Cycling Resort: Museo di Campionissimi in Novi Ligure and AcdB in Alessandria. Contact us for details on a personal excursion during your stay.