La Barocca

 La Barocca 2024

Sunday was La Barocca, our first vintage event in the south. Ragusa's just an hour or so from our house so we rented a car on Saturday and zoomed out there. Last year our friends at GIOS-Torino came down here for it and wanted to stop by and visit on their way back. Zio Lorenzo was embarrassed that he didn't even know about it, but swore we'd be at the next one. We shipped Zio's vintage Bianchi and Heather's DeRosa down here last summer, just for this purpose. Nice finishing "medal" eh?

The HQ was a tiny shop next to a pharmacy. The owner's way into vintage stuff as you can see by the photos.

Crammed full of neat stuff!

Cool car, eh? We stopped-by on Saturday to pick-up our numbers, etc. and they had this car out front. It was used on Sunday to lead the group around the course.

Lot's of bikes here from local Sicilian builders. Never seen or heard of GINO before.

Or CASCONE

How 'bout BONANNO from Catania?

Or Di Lorenzo?

After admiring bicycles, it was time to ride. We opted for the short loop and were glad we did when Heather didn't feel well on the first climb.

First stop was Scicli where you see Zio Lorenzo posing on the steps of the fictional police station in the Inspector Montalbano TV series

The ride split in-two after that so we headed-off with a small group with escorts on E-MTB's, who led us through the flock of sheep and goats on our way out of town. We were happy we chose the short route as a) the skies were getting very dark b) it was mostly downhill or flat. But we got rained-on anyway the last 10 kms or so but arrived at the HQ before Zio's socks turned black, so all was good.

We were back barely after noon with 5 hours to kill before the pasta party, but when they offered us fresh arancini and birra as post-ride snacks we had our answer - skip the pasta party and head back home in-time to see the finale of the Giro d'Italia's queen stage!

We were back home and dry in front of the TV by 3 PM with plans to return to La Barocca next year - maybe riding the long route but certainly hoping it doesn't rain!

Grazie mille to everyone in Ragusa! See you in 2025!