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112-497: One-day races and Classics Other Angelo Fausto Coppi ( Italian pronunciation: [ˈfausto ˈkɔppi] ; 15 September 1919 – 2 January 1960) was an Italian cyclist, the dominant international cyclist of the years after the Second World War . His successes earned him the title Il Campionissimo ("Champion of Champions"). He was an all-round racing cyclist: he excelled in both climbing and time trialing, and

224-458: A cerebral haemorrhage . Coppi could never match his old successes. Pierre Chany said he was first to be dropped each day in the Vuelta a España in 1959. Criterium organisers frequently cut their races to 45 km to be certain that Coppi could finish, he said. "Physically, he wouldn't have been able to ride even 10km further. He charged himself [took drugs] before every race". Coppi, said Chany,

336-580: A transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art. The Etruscans lived in the area of Etruria well into prehistory. The civilization grew to fill the area between the Arno and Tiber from the tenth century BCE, reaching its peak during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C., finally succumbing to the Romans by the first century BCE. From the Etruscans, Tuscany took

448-593: A POW camp in Naples to work as a driver for the Royal Air Force . The British moved Coppi to an RAF base at Caserta in Italy, based in the city's royal palace , in 1945. There he worked as a truck driver and as a personal assistant and handyman for an officer, Lieutenant Ronald Smith Towell, who had never heard of him. Despite this, the two struck up a mutually beneficial relationship: Coppi's popularity in Italy

560-505: A bicycle ... Bartali prays while he is pedalling: the rational Cartesian and sceptical Coppi is filled with doubts, believes only in his body, his motor". Their lives came together on 7 January 1940 when Eberardo Pavesi, head of the Legnano team, took on Coppi to ride in support of Bartali. Their rivalry started when Coppi, the helping hand, won the Giro and Bartali, the star, marshalled

672-410: A bike came from his uncle, also called Fausto Coppi, and his father. Coppi said: "... [My uncle] was a merchant navy officer on a petrol tanker, and a real cycling fan. He was touched when he heard of my passion for the bike and decided that I deserved a real tool for the job on which I had set my heart, instead of the rusty old crock I was pushing around. I just cried with joy when my kind uncle gave me

784-523: A child and showed little interest in school. In 1927 he wrote "I ought to be at school, not riding my bicycle" after skipping lessons to spend the day riding a family bike which he had found in a cellar, rusty and without brake blocks. He left school at age 13 to work for Domenico Merlani, a butcher in Novi Ligure more widely known as Signor Ettore. Cycling to and from the shop and meeting cyclists who came there interested him in racing. The money to buy

896-494: A class of semi-professionals who could ride against both amateurs and professionals. He sent Coppi to the Tour of Tuscany that April with the advice: "Follow Gino Bartali !" He was forced to stop with a broken wheel. But at Varzi on 7 May 1939 he won one of the races counting to the season-long national independent championship. He finished seven minutes clear of the field and won his next race by six minutes. His first major success

1008-532: A classic cycling race. UCI , the international governing body of cycling, has no mention at all of the term in its rulings. This poses problems to define the characteristics of these races and makes it impossible to make precise lists. Several criteria are used to denote the importance of a cycling race: date of creation, historical importance and tradition, commercial importance, location, level of difficulty, level of competition field, etc. However, many of these paradigms tend to shift over time and are often opinions of

1120-425: A conversation with him, but he didn't speak English and I don't speak Italian. But we managed one or two words and I got over to him that I did some club racing. And I gave him a bar of chocolate that I had with me and he was grateful for that and that was the end of it". In April 1944, Coppi fell ill with malaria, however this was quickly diagnosed and treated. In November of that year he returned to Italy, arriving at

1232-399: A fairy-cycle, let alone a racing bike. I used to cry bitterly as I went back home without the frame. On the ninth journey I took a frame home. But it wasn't a 'made to measure'. The chap just took one down off the rack. I was furious inside, but too shy to do anything about it". Coppi rode his first race at age 15, among other boys not attached to cycling clubs, and won first prize: 20 lire and

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1344-519: A moral object, three elements which we shall find again in the Divine Comedy . Francesco da Barberino , a learned lawyer who was secretary to bishops , a judge , and a notary , wrote two little allegorical poems, the Documenti d'amore and Del reggimento e dei costumi delle donne . The poems today are generally studied not as literature, but for historical context. A fourth allegorical work

1456-525: A personal nature. One of the few objective criteria is the official categorization of races as classified by the UCI, although this is not a defining feature either, as many fans dispute the presence of some of the highest-categorized races and some older races are not included in the UCI World Tour . Because of the growing ambiguity and inflation of the term "classic", the much younger term "monument"

1568-700: A population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ( Firenze ). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its influence on high culture . It is regarded as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and of the foundations of the Italian language . The prestige established by the Tuscan dialect's use in literature by Dante Alighieri , Petrarch , Giovanni Boccaccio , Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini led to its subsequent elaboration as

1680-573: A salami sandwich. Coppi took a racing licence at the start of 1938 and won his first race, at Castelleto d'Orba, near the butcher's shop. He won alone, winning an alarm clock. A regular caller at the butcher's shop in Novi Ligure was a former boxer who had become a masseur , a job he could do after losing his sight, in 1938. Giuseppe Cavanna was known to friends as Biagio. Coppi met him that year, recommended by another of Cavanna's riders. Cavanna suggested in 1939 that Coppi should become an independent,

1792-402: A solo chase to rejoin the peloton. The following week he broke his collarbone in a crash before he was due to defend his national pursuit championship in the final against Cino Cinelli : however, Cinelli refused to accept the title by default, and the final was delayed to October, which Coppi won. Shortly afterwards he made his successful bid for the hour record at Vigorelli Velodrome: the roof of

1904-541: A son, Faustino. In December 1959, the president of the Republic of Upper Volta (now known as Burkina Faso ), Maurice Yaméogo , invited Coppi, Raphaël Géminiani , Jacques Anquetil , Louison Bobet , Roger Hassenforder and Henry Anglade to ride against local riders and then go hunting. Géminiani remembered: "I slept in the same room as Coppi in a house infested by mosquitos. I'd got used to them but Coppi hadn't. Well, when I say we 'slept', that's an overstatement. It

2016-503: A title, usually without even a formal office. These rulers presided over the Florentine Renaissance . There was a return to the republic from 1494 to 1512, when first Girolamo Savonarola then Piero Soderini oversaw the state. Cardinal Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici retook the city with Spanish forces in 1512, before going to Rome to become Pope Leo X . Florence was dominated by a series of papal proxies until 1527 when

2128-610: A while to find out who she was. She and Coppi moved in together but so great was the scandal that the landlord of their apartment in Tortona demanded they move out. Reporters pursued them to a hotel in Castelletto d'Orba and again they moved, buying the Villa Carla, a house near Novi Ligure. There police raided them at night to see if they were sharing a bed. Pope Pius XII asked Coppi to return to his wife. He refused to bless

2240-530: Is Angelo who told me that Coppi had been killed. I was a supporter of Coppi, and you can imagine my state when he told me that Coppi had been poisoned in Fada Gourma, at the time of a reception organised by the head of the village. Angelo also told me that [Raphael] Géminiani was also present... Fausto's plate fell, they replaced it, and then..." The story has also been attributed to a 75-year-old Benedictine monk called Brother Adrien. He told Mino Caudullo of

2352-517: Is blind to blasons but not to a good heart when it finds one: when it succeeds it is the result of the spiritual, not physical affinity between two souls. Guinizzelli's democratic view can be better understood in the light of the greater equality and freedom enjoyed by the city-states of the center-north and the rise of a middle class eager to legitimise itself in the eyes of the old nobility, still regarded with respect and admiration but dispossessed of its political power. Guinizelli's Canzoni make up

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2464-423: Is harsher and rainy in the interior, with considerable fluctuations in temperature between winter and summer, giving the region a soil-building active freeze-thaw cycle, in part accounting for the region once having served as a key breadbasket of ancient Rome . The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the middle and late Bronze parallels that of the archaic Greeks . The Tuscan area was inhabited by peoples of

2576-613: Is indelibly connected with the name of Guido d'Arezzo , the 11th-century monk who invented modern musical notation and the do-re-mi system of naming notes of the scale; Lucca hosted possibly the greatest Italian composer of Verismo , Giacomo Puccini together with Alfredo Catalani , while Pietro Mascagni was born in Livorno ; and Siena is well known for the Accademia Musicale Chigiana , an organization that currently sponsors major musical activities such as

2688-520: Is made from Moraiolo, Leccino and Frantoiano olives. White truffles from San Miniato appear in October and November. Beef of the highest quality comes from the Chiana Valley , specifically, a breed known as Chianina used for Florentine steak . The indigenous Cinta Senese breed of pork is also produced. Wine is a famous and common produce of Tuscany. The red wine Chianti is perhaps

2800-539: Is sometimes considered "a nation within a nation". Tuscany is the second-most-popular Italian region for travellers in Italy , after Veneto . The main tourist spots are Florence , Castiglione della Pescaia , Pisa , San Gimignano , Lucca , Grosseto and Siena . The town of Castiglione della Pescaia is the most visited seaside destination in the region, with seaside tourism accounting for approximately 40% of tourist arrivals. The Maremma region , Siena , Lucca ,

2912-616: The Alps , Coppi took back the 55 minutes by which Jacques Marinelli led him. Coppi won the Giro di Lombardia a record five times (1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1954). He won Milan–San Remo three times (1946, 1948 and 1949). In the 1946 Milan–San Remo he attacked with nine others, five kilometres into a race of 292 km. He dropped the rest on the Turchino climb and won by 14 minutes. He also won Paris–Roubaix and La Flèche Wallonne (1950). He

3024-527: The Chianti region , Versilia and Val d'Orcia are also internationally renowned and particularly popular spots among travellers. Eight Tuscan localities have been designated World Heritage Sites : the historic Centre of Florence (1982); the Cathedral square of Pisa (1987); the historical centre of San Gimignano (1990); the historical centre of Siena (1995); the historical centre of Pienza (1996);

3136-652: The Goths (Eastern - Ostrogoths and Western - Visigoths ), then was re-conquered by the revived Eastern Roman Empire (later Byzantine Empire ) under the Emperor Justinian . In the years following 572, the Lombards arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their subsequent Tuscia . Pilgrims travelling along the Via Francigena between Rome and France brought wealth and development during

3248-563: The Italian National Olympic Committee : "Coppi was killed with a potion mixed with grass. Here in Burkina Faso this awful phenomenon happens. People are still being killed like that". Coppi's doctor, Ettore Allegri, dismissed the story as "absolute drivel". A court in Tortona opened an investigation and asked toxicologists about exhuming Coppi's body to look for poison. A year later, without exhumation ,

3360-851: The Omloop , but receive a lot of attention because of their position early in the season, typically in February. Together, Strade Bianche, Milan–San Remo, the Cobbled classics and the Ardennes classics make up the "Spring Classics", all held in March and April. After Liege, the one-day races begin to give way to the stage races leading to the Grand Tours between May and September. Although there are no 'monuments' in this period, some important summer classics are held from July to September. Following

3472-584: The Val d'Orcia (2004), the Medici Villas and Gardens (2013), and Montecatini Terme as part of the Great Spa Towns of Europe (2021). Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves , making Tuscany and its capital Florence popular tourist destinations. In 2018, Florence alone had over 5 million arrivals, making it the world's 51st most visited city . Roughly triangular in shape, Tuscany borders

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3584-751: The medieval period . The food and shelter required by these travellers fuelled the growth of communities around churches and taverns. The conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines , factions supporting the Papacy or the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries, split the Tuscan people. The two factions gave rise to several powerful and rich medieval communes in Tuscany: Arezzo , Florence , Lucca , Pisa , and Siena . Balance between these communes

3696-686: The province of Pistoia : In the province of Prato : In the province of Siena : Apart from standard Italian , the Tuscan dialect ( dialetto toscano ) is spoken in Tuscany. The Italian language is based historically on literary Tuscan, specifically the Florentine dialect . It became the language of culture for all the people of Italy, thanks to the prestige of the masterpieces of Dante Alighieri , Petrarch , Giovanni Boccaccio , Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini . It would later become

3808-418: The 13th century, there were several major allegorical poems . One of these is by Brunetto Latini , who was a close friend of Dante. His Tesoretto is a short poem, in seven-syllable verses, rhyming in couplets, in which the author professes to be lost in a wilderness and to meet with a lady, who represents Nature, from whom he receives much instruction. We see here the vision, the allegory, the instruction with

3920-719: The 2005 to 2007 seasons, some classics formed part of the UCI ProTour run by the Union Cycliste Internationale . This event series also included various stage races including the Tour de France , Giro d'Italia , Vuelta a España , Paris–Nice , and the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré . The UCI ProTour replaced the UCI Road World Cup series (1989–2004) which contained only one-day races. Many of

4032-512: The 600 lire that were to make my dream come true. I knew from advertisements I had seen in the local papers that for 600 lire I could get a frame built to my measurements in Genoa . Out of my slender savings I took enough for the train fare to Genoa and back, gave my measurements, and handed over the 600 lire. I would have to buy the fittings and tyres from my errand-boy salary. Oh how my legs used to ache at night through climbing all those stairs during

4144-725: The Fascist regime. On release he cycled and hitched lifts home. On Sunday 8 July 1945 he won the Circuit of the Aces in Milan after four years away from racing. The following season he won Milan–San Remo. Coppi's beloved, "The Woman in White" was Giulia Occhini , described by the French broadcaster Jean-Paul Ollivier as "strikingly beautiful with thick chestnut hair divided into enormous plaits". She

4256-458: The Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in the same year, the first to do so. He won the Giro five times, a record shared with Alfredo Binda and Eddy Merckx. During the 1949 Giro he left Gino Bartali by 11 minutes between Cuneo and Pinerolo . Coppi won the 1949 Tour de France by almost half an hour over everyone except Bartali. From the start of the mountains in the Pyrenees to their end in

4368-500: The Giro d'Italia when Coppi rode it. The Pope then went through the Italian cycling federation. Its president, Bartolo Paschetta, wrote on 8 July 1954: "Dear Fausto, yesterday evening St. Peter made it known to me that the news [of adultery] had caused him great pain". Bruna Ciampolini refused a divorce. To end a marriage was shameful and still illegal in the country. Coppi was shunned and spectators spat at him. He and Giulia Occhini had

4480-421: The Italian daily sports paper, published a Coppi supplement. The editor wrote that he prayed that God would soon send another Coppi. Coppi was an atheist. In January 2002 a man identified only as Giovanni, who lived in Burkina Faso until 1964, said Coppi died not of malaria but of an overdose of cocaine. The newspaper Corriere dello Sport said Giovanni had his information from Angelo Bonazzi. Giovanni said: "It

4592-457: The Sicilians was led by Dante da Maiano , but its literary originality took another line – that of humorous and satirical poetry. The democratic form of government created a style of poetry that stood strongly against the medieval mystic and chivalrous style. Devout invocation of God or a lady came from the cloister and the castle ; in the streets of the cities everything that had gone before

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4704-750: The Siena Music Week and the Alfredo Casella International Composition Competition. Other important musical centres in Tuscany include Pisa and Grosseto . Several famous writers and poets are from Tuscany, most notably Florentine author Dante Alighieri . Tuscany's literary scene particularly thrived in the 13th century and the Renaissance. In Tuscany, especially in the Middle Ages, popular love poetry existed. A school of imitators of

4816-468: The Tour in the 1990s. He was given odd jobs to do. The British cyclist Len Levesley said he was astonished to find Coppi giving him a haircut. Levesley, who was on a stretcher with polio , said: "I should think it took me all of a full second to realise who it was. He looked fine, he looked slim, and having been in the desert, he looked tanned. I'd only seen him in cycling magazines but I knew instantly who he was. So he cut away at my hair and I tried to have

4928-632: The beginning of the Iron Age , the Villanovan culture ( c.  900  – c.  700 BC), regarded as the oldest phase of Etruscan civilization , saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms . City-states developed in the late Villanovan (paralleling Greece and the Aegean) before " Orientalization " occurred. The Etruscans (Latin: Tusci ) created the first major civilization in this region, large enough to establish

5040-484: The bible of Dolce Stil Novo , and one in particular, "Al cor gentil" ("To a Kind Heart") is considered the manifesto of the new movement which would bloom in Florence under Cavalcanti , Dante and their followers. His poetry has some of the faults of the school of d'Arezzo. Nevertheless, he marks a great development in the history of Italian art, especially because of his close connection with Dante's lyric poetry . In

5152-607: The building still had large holes after Milan had been heavily bombed a few weeks earlier. However, in March 1943 Coppi was sent to North Africa to participate in the Tunisian campaign , fighting against British forces. According to Coppi's identification paper, he was captured on 13 May 1943 in Enfidha , 100 km south of Tunis , although he may have been caught the previous month by the British Eighth Army which

5264-479: The case was dismissed. The Giro remembers Coppi as it goes through the mountain stages. A mountain bonus, called the Cima Coppi , is awarded to the first rider who reaches the Giro's highest summit. In 1999, Coppi placed second in balloting for greatest Italian athlete of the 20th century. Coppi's life story was depicted in the 1995 TV movie, Il Grande Fausto , written and directed by Alberto Sironi . Coppi

5376-542: The citizens declared the republic again, only to have it taken from them again in 1530 after a siege by an Imperial and Spanish army. At this point Pope Clement VII and Charles V appointed Alessandro de' Medici as the first formal hereditary ruler. The Sienese commune was not incorporated into Tuscany until 1555, and during the 15th century, Siena enjoyed a cultural 'Sienese Renaissance' with its own more conservative character. Lucca remained an independent republic until 1847 when it became part of Grand Duchy of Tuscany by

5488-567: The classics, and all the Grand Tours , were not part of the UCI ProTour for the 2008 season because of disputes between the UCI and the ASO , which organizes the Tour de France and several other major races. Since 2009, many classic cycle races are part of the UCI World Tour . Although cycling fans and sports media eagerly use the term "classic", there is no clear consensus about what constitutes

5600-646: The country be ruled by his son. The dynasty of the Lorena ruled Tuscany until 1860, except during the Napoleonic period , when most of the country was annexed to the French Empire . After the Second Italian War of Independence , a revolution evicted the last Grand Duke, and after a plebiscite, Tuscany became part of the new Kingdom of Italy . From 1864 to 1870 Florence became the second capital of

5712-447: The day! But I'm glad I did, because it surely made my legs so strong". "Come back within a week; your frame will be ready" said the owner of the cycle shop". "But it wasn't ready, and not the next week, and not the next. For eight weeks I threw precious money away taking the train to Genoa and still no made-to-measure bike for me. The fellow just couldn't be bothered making a frame for a skinny country kid who didn't look as if he could pedal

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5824-472: The end of the Vuelta a Espana in early September, the nature of the racing once more tends towards the one-day races. The autumn classics are held from September to November. Some Classics have disappeared, often because of financial problems. These include: The Monuments are generally considered to be the oldest, hardest and most prestigious one-day events in cycling. They each have a long history and specific individual characteristics. They are currently

5936-482: The first year." In 1630, Florence and Tuscany were once again ravaged by the plague . Tuscany, especially Florence , is regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance . Though "Tuscany" remained a linguistic, cultural, and geographic conception rather than a political reality, in the 15th century, Florence extended its dominion in Tuscany through the annexation of Arezzo in 1384, the purchase of Pisa in 1405, and

6048-513: The highest are the Apennines ), a further 25%, or 5,770 square kilometres (2,230 sq mi). Plains occupy 8.4% of the total area—1,930 square kilometres (750 sq mi)—mainly around the valley of the Arno . Many of Tuscany's most significant cities lie on the banks of the Arno, including the capital, Florence , Empoli , and Pisa . The climate is fairly mild in the coastal areas, and

6160-590: The introduction of aqueducts and sewers, and the construction of many buildings, both public and private. However, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather. The Roman civilization in the West of the Roman Republic and later Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century, and the region fell briefly to barbarians migrating through the Empire from Eastern Europe and Central Asia of

6272-574: The kingdom. Under Benito Mussolini , the area came under the dominance of local Fascist leaders such as Dino Perrone Compagni (from Florence), and Costanzo and Galeazzo Ciano (from Livorno ). Following the fall of Mussolini and the armistice of 8 September 1943, Tuscany became part of the Nazi-controlled Italian Social Republic and was conquered almost totally by the Anglo-American forces during

6384-435: The language of culture throughout Italy. It has been home to many figures influential in the history of art and science, and contains well-known museums such as the Uffizi and the Palazzo Pitti . Tuscany is also known for its wines , including Chianti , Vino Nobile di Montepulciano , Morellino di Scansano , Brunello di Montalcino and white Vernaccia di San Gimignano . Having a strong linguistic and cultural identity, it

6496-406: The main cities, such as Florence and Siena , but also in smaller villages scattered around the region, such as San Gimignano . Tuscany has a unique artistic legacy, and Florence is one of the world's most important water-colour centres, even so that it is often nicknamed the "art palace of Italy" (the region is also believed to have the largest concentration of Renaissance art and architecture in

6608-425: The medieval period and the Renaissance, four main Tuscan art schools competed against each other: the Florentine School , the Sienese School , the Pisan School, and the Lucchese School . In the province of Arezzo : In the province of Florence : In the Province of Grosseto : In the province of Livorno : In the province of Lucca : In the province of Massa and Carrara : In the province of Pisa : In

6720-442: The most significant island is Elba . Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres (8,878 sq mi). Surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains and with few (but fertile) plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country used for agriculture . Hills make up nearly two-thirds (66.5%) of the region's total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres (5,904 sq mi), and mountains (of which

6832-420: The most well-known internationally. Due to the many British tourists who come to the area where Chianti wine is produced this specific area has been nicknamed " Chiantishire ". Between 1851 and 1860, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany , an independent Italian state until 1859 when it joined the United Provinces of Central Italy , produced two postage stamp issues which are among the most prized classic stamp issues of

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6944-411: The name of Etruria, Tuscia for the Romans and subsequently Tuscania and Tuscany. While the areas of north-western Tuscany were inhabited by the ancient Ligures . In northwestern Tuscany, the area between the Arno and Magra rivers was culturally aligned with the Etruscans in the early Iron Age, and came under Ligurian control in the late Iron Age. One reason for the eventual demise of this civilization

7056-417: The official language of all the Italian states and of the Kingdom of Italy , when it was formed. Many Tuscan terms are also common in the dialects of Umbria and some parts of Emilia Romagna . Tuscany has a rich ancient and modern musical tradition, and has produced numerous composers and musicians, including Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni . Florence is the main musical centre of Tuscany. The city

7168-553: The one-day races in which most points can be earned in the UCI World Tour . Since the early 2000s, many classic events have started women's races, now part of the UCI Women's World Tour . These events are often held on the same day or on the same weekend of the men's races. Three of the five cycling 'monuments' have equivalent races: Tour of Flanders for Women (first held in 2004), Liège–Bastogne–Liège Femmes (first held in 2017) and Paris–Roubaix Femmes (first held in 2021). A women's version of Milan–San Remo, named Primavera Rosa ,

7280-533: The pair shared a bottle on the Col d'Izoard in the 1952 Tour but the two fell out over who had offered it. "I did", Bartali insisted. "He never gave me anything". Their rivalry was the subject of intense coverage and resulted in epic races. Coppi joined the Italian Army when Italy entered World War II : the declaration of war on the Allied Powers was made on the day after the finish of the 1940 Giro d'Italia. Officers initially supported him continuing his riding career: track cycling and one-day racing continued during

7392-433: The prodigious expression of art and architecture in Florence. His famous descendant Catherine de' Medici married Prince Henry (later King Henry II ) of France in 1533. The Black Death epidemic hit Tuscany starting in 1348. It eventually killed 70% of the Tuscan population. According to Melissa Snell, "Florence lost a third of its population in the first six months of the plague, and from 45% to 75% of its population in

7504-422: The regions of Liguria to the northwest, Emilia-Romagna to the north, Marche and Umbria to the east, and Lazio to the south and southeast. The comune (municipality) of Badia Tedalda , in the Tuscan Province of Arezzo , has an exclave named Ca' Raffaello within Emilia-Romagna. Tuscany has a western coastline on the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea , among which is the Tuscan Archipelago , of which

7616-454: The road behind me". He rode like "a Martian on a bicycle", said Raphaël Géminiani. "He asked my advice about the gears to use, I was in the French team and he in the Italian, but he was a friend and normally my captain in our everyday team, so I could hardly refuse him. I saw a phenomenal rider that day". Coppi won the Tour by 28m 27s and the organiser, Jacques Goddet , had to double the prizes for lower placings to keep other riders interested. It

7728-432: The same track. The record stood until it was beaten by Jacques Anquetil in 1956. His career was then interrupted by active service in the Second World War . In 1946 he resumed racing and achieved remarkable successes which would be exceeded only by Eddy Merckx . The veteran writer Pierre Chany said that from 1946 to 1954 Coppi was never once recaught once he had broken away from the rest. Twice, 1949 and 1952, Coppi won

7840-558: The small penalty given to Fiorenzo Magni . In 1949, Coppi was finally able to enter the Tour. After several stages, Coppi was more than half an hour behind in the general classification, but he gained time in the mountain stages, and ended the Tour winning the general classification and the mountains classification, both with his teammate Bartali in second place, also winning the team classification. In 1950, Coppi did not defend his Tour title, because he refused to ride together with Bartali. In 1951, he joined (riding together with Bartali), but

7952-422: The so-called Apennine culture in the second millennium BC ( c.  1400  – c.  1150 BC) who had trading relationships with the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations in the Aegean Sea , and, at the end of the Bronze Age, by peoples of the so-called Proto-Villanovan culture ( c.  1100  – c.  900 BC) part of the central European Urnfield culture system. Following this, at

8064-616: The summer of 1944. Following the end of the Social Republic and the transition from the Kingdom to the modern Italian Republic , Tuscany once more flourished as a cultural centre of Italy. Since the establishment of the regional government in 1970, Tuscany has always been ruled by centre-left governments. Tuscany has an immense cultural and artistic heritage, expressed in the region's churches, palaces, art galleries, museums, villages, and piazzas. Many of these artifacts are found in

8176-565: The suppression of a local resistance there (1406). Livorno was bought in 1421 and became the harbour of Florence. From the leading city of Florence, the republic was from 1434 onward dominated by the increasingly monarchical Medici family. Initially, under Cosimo , Piero the Gouty , Lorenzo and Piero the Unfortunate , the forms of the republic were retained and the Medici ruled without

8288-476: The team to chase. By the 1948 world championship at Valkenburg, Limburg in the Netherlands, both climbed off rather than help the other. The Italian cycling association said: "They have forgotten to honour the Italian prestige they represent. Thinking only of their personal rivalry, they abandoned the race, to the approbation of all sportsmen". They were suspended for three months. The thaw partly broke when

8400-414: The time gap to the man in second place, you didn't need a Swiss stopwatch. The bell of the church clock tower would do the job just as well. Paris–Roubaix? Milan–San Remo? Lombardy? We're talking 10 minutes to a quarter of an hour. That's how Fausto Coppi was. "This mercurial beginner [Fausto Coppi] joined Bartali's team in 1940, and then won the Giro d'ltalia with a massive lead over his team leader. Bartali

8512-458: The two spent more and more time together. Italy was a straight-laced country in which adultery was thought of poorly. In 1954, Luigi Boccaccini of La Stampa saw her waiting for Coppi at the end of a race in St-Moritz . She and Coppi hugged and La Stampa printed a picture in which she was described as la dama in bianco di Fausto Coppi —the "woman in white of Fausto Coppi". It took only

8624-431: The very embodiment of pure will. In 1955 Coppi and his lover Giulia Occhini were put on trial for adultery, then illegal in Italy, and got suspended sentences. The scandal rocked conservative ultra-Catholic Italy and Coppi was disgraced. Coppi's career declined after the scandal. He had already been hit in 1951 by the death of his younger brother, Serse Coppi , who crashed in a sprint in the Giro del Piemonte and died of

8736-423: The war, and Coppi continued to enjoy success, winning the Giro di Toscana , the Giro dell'Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine on the road in 1941, along with the Italian national pursuit title on the track. He struggled at the beginning of the following year following the death of his father, but became national road champion after suffering a puncture and losing one and a half minutes to the bunch, forcing him into

8848-464: The waste bin and the bedside table, go through the bottles, flasks, phials, tubes, cartons, boxes, suppositories – I swept up everything. I became so expert in interpreting all these pharmaceuticals that I could predict how Fausto would behave during the course of the stage. I would work out, according to the traces of the product I found, how and when he would attack me". Gino Bartali, Miroir des Sports, 1946, Classic cycle races For

8960-619: The will of its people. Piombino and other strategic towns constituted the tiny State of the Presidi under Spanish control. In the 16th century, the Medicis , rulers of Florence, annexed the Republic of Siena , creating the Grand Duchy of Tuscany . The Medici family became extinct in 1737 with the death of Gian Gastone , and Tuscany was transferred to Francis , Duke of Lorraine and husband of Austrian Empress Maria Theresa , who let

9072-476: The work of Cecco Angiolieri of Siena, the oldest humorist we know, a far-off precursor of François Rabelais and Michel de Montaigne . Another type of poetry also began in Tuscany. Guittone d'Arezzo made art abandon chivalry and Provençal forms for national motives and Latin forms. He attempted political poetry, and although his work is often obscure, he prepared the way for the Bolognese school. Bologna

9184-507: The world hour record, the world championships, the grands tours , classics as well as time trials. The great French cycling journalist, Pierre Chany says that between 1946 and 1954, once Coppi had broken away from the peloton, the peloton never saw him again. Can this be said of any other racer? Informed observers who saw both ride agree that Coppi was the more elegant rider who won by dint of his physical gifts as opposed to Merckx who drove himself and hammered his competition relentlessly by being

9296-633: The world's most precious works of art. Such museums include the Uffizi , which keeps Botticelli's The Birth of Venus , the Palazzo Pitti , and the Bargello , to name a few. Most of the frescos, sculptures, and paintings in Tuscany are held in the region's abundant churches and cathedrals, such as Florence Cathedral , Siena Cathedral , Pisa Cathedral and the Collegiata di San Gimignano . In

9408-583: The world). Painters such as Cimabue and Giotto , the fathers of Italian painting, lived in Florence and Tuscany, as well as Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano , renewers of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi , Donatello and Masaccio , forefathers of the Renaissance; Ghiberti and the Della Robbias , Filippo Lippi and Angelico ; Botticelli , Paolo Uccello , and the universal genius of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo . The region contains numerous museums and art galleries, many housing some of

9520-562: The world, and include the most valuable Italian stamp. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was an independent Italian state from 1569 to 1859 but was occupied by France from 1808 to 1814. The Duchy comprised most of the present area of Tuscany, and its capital was Florence. In December 1859, the Grand Duchy officially ceased to exist, being joined to the duchies of Modena and Parma to form the United Provinces of Central Italy, which

9632-637: Was "a magnificent and grotesque washout of a man, ironical towards himself; nothing except the warmth of simple friendship could penetrate his melancholia. But I'm talking of the end of his career. The last year! In 1959! I'm not talking about the great era. In 1959, he wasn't a racing cyclist any more. He was just clinging on [ il tentait de sauver les meubles ]." Jacques Goddet wrote in an appreciation of Coppi's career in L'Équipe : "We would like to have cried out to him ' Stop !' And as nobody dared to, destiny took care of it." Raphaël Géminiani said of Coppi's domination: When Fausto won and you wanted to check

9744-503: Was also 1953 world road champion . In the first years of his career, Coppi was unable to ride the Tour de France. When he turned professional in 1940, the Tour de France was not held because of the Second World War. The Tour restarted in 1947, but Italians were not welcome yet. In 1948, Italians were welcome, but Coppi was suspended by the Italian cycling union because he had abandoned the 1948 Giro d'Italia in protest against

9856-549: Was also a good sprinter. He won the Giro d'Italia five times ( 1940 , 1947 , 1949 , 1952 , 1953 ), the Tour de France twice ( 1949 and 1952 ), and the World Championship in 1953 . Other notable results include winning the Giro di Lombardia five times, the Milan–San Remo three times, as well as wins at Paris–Roubaix and La Flèche Wallonne and setting the hour record (45.798 km) in 1942. Coppi

9968-490: Was always on the Saturday before Liege–Bastogne–Liege (it was known as The Ardennes Weekend), before being shortened and moved to the preceding Wednesday. The remaining five then became known as the 'Monuments'. Rik van Looy is the only rider to win all eight. Eddy Merckx and Roger De Vlaeminck both won seven, both missing out at Paris–Tours. Season openers are usually not regarded as highly as other classics apart from

10080-510: Was annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia a few months later in March 1860. In 1862 it became part of Italy and joined the Italian postal system. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 117.5 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 6.7% of Italy's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 31,400 euros or 104% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee

10192-530: Was astonished and affronted. Henceforward, the two riders were in personal combat—it often seemed that, as fierce rivals, they cared less about winning a race than beating each other". Tim Hilton, The Guardian Coppi's racing days are generally referred to as the beginning of the golden years of cycle racing. A factor is the competition between Coppi and Gino Bartali . Italian tifosi (fans) divided into coppiani and bartaliani . Bartali's rivalry with Coppi divided Italy. Bartali, conservative, religious,

10304-566: Was at the heart of much of the Western musical tradition. It was there that the Florentine Camerata convened in the mid-16th century and experimented with setting tales of Greek mythology to music and staging, resulting in the first operas , fostering the further development of the operatic form, and the later developments of separate "classical" forms such as the symphony . There are numerous musical centres in Tuscany. Arezzo

10416-467: Was born in Castellania (now known as Castellania Coppi), near Alessandria , one of five children born to Domenico Coppi and Angiolina Boveri, who married on 29 July 1914. Fausto was the fourth child, born at 5:00 pm on 15 September 1919. His mother wanted to call him Angelo, but his father preferred Fausto. He was named Angelo Fausto but was known most of his life as Fausto. Coppi had poor health as

10528-481: Was causing him pain. Palumbo wrote a newspaper article appealing for help: Coppi then received a Legnano racing bike from a Somma Vesuviana carpenter. The war being as good as over, Coppi was released in 1945. In addition he had distanced himself from Mussolini 's government during his time in British custody, which often resulted in beneficial treatment compared to those who had continued to profess their loyalty to

10640-433: Was delirious and I couldn't stop talking. I imagined or maybe saw people all round but I didn't recognise anyone. The doctor treated me for hepatitis, then for yellow fever, finally for typhoid". Géminiani was diagnosed as being infected with plasmodium falciparum , one of the more lethal strains of malaria . Géminiani recovered but Coppi died, his doctors convinced he had a bronchial complaint. La Gazzetta dello Sport ,

10752-411: Was ensured by the assets they held: Pisa, a port; Siena, banking; and Lucca, banking and silk. But by the time of the Renaissance , Florence had become the cultural capital of Tuscany. One family that benefitted from Florence's growing wealth and power was the ruling Medici family . Its scion Lorenzo de' Medici was one of the most famous of the Medici. The legacy of his influence is visible today in

10864-413: Was helpful to Towell in achieving his goals as an administrator, whilst Towell was able, via S.S.C. Napoli footballer Umberto Busani , to help Coppi make contact with local sports journalist Gino Palumbo, who would later become editor of La Gazzetta dello Sport . Coppi wrote to Palumbo asking if he could assist with obtaining a racing bicycle for him as he only had an army bicycle with heavy tyres which

10976-533: Was his last Tour, having ridden three and won two. To conserve energy, he would have soigneurs carry him around his hotel during Grand Tours. Bill McGann wrote: Comparing riders from different eras is a risky business subject to the prejudices of the judge. But if Coppi isn't the greatest rider of all time, then he is second only to Eddy Merckx. One can't judge his accomplishments by his list of wins because World War II interrupted his career just as World War I interrupted that of Philippe Thys . Coppi won it all:

11088-537: Was in 1940, winning the Giro d'Italia at the age of 20. On 7 November 1942 he set a world hour record (45.798 km at the Velodromo Vigorelli in Milan ). He rode a 7.40-metre (291-inch) gear and pedalled with an average cadence of 103.3 rpm. The bike is on display in the chapel of Madonna del Ghisallo near Como , Italy. Coppi beat Maurice Archambaud 's 45.767 km, set five years earlier on

11200-415: Was in and around the city at that time. He was kept in the nearby prisoner of war camp at Ksar Saïd. In the camp he met other cyclists, including Silvio Pedroni , who had previously given Coppi a tyre after the latter had suffered a puncture in a race in 1939, and Ilio Simoni, who would later become a team-mate of Coppi's at Bianchi . He also shared plates with the father of Claudio Chiappucci , who rode

11312-475: Was initiated in 1999, but cancelled after 2005. Other major races include La Flèche Wallonne Féminine (first held in 1998), Women's Amstel Gold Race (first held in 2001) and Strade Bianche Donne (first held in 2015). Tuscany Tuscany ( / ˈ t ʌ s k ə n i / TUSK -ə-nee ; Italian : Toscana , Italian: [tosˈkaːna] ) is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres (8,900 square miles) and

11424-537: Was introduced in the 21st century to denote the five most revered of the classic cycling races. Until the 1980s there were originally eight recognised classics, the five Monuments (see Cycling Monuments below) plus La Flèche Wallonne , Paris–Brussels and Paris–Tours . Due to various traffic and organizational problems these events came and went in various guises (for example, Paris–Tours became Blois–Chaville, before returning in its current form). Paris–Brussels disappeared altogether between 1967 and 1976. Flèche Wallonne

11536-485: Was like the safari had been brought forward several hours, except that for the moment we were hunting mosquitos. Coppi was swiping at them with a towel. Right then, of course, I had no clue of what the tragic consequences of that night would be. Ten times, twenty times, I told Fausto 'Do what I'm doing and get your head under the sheets; they can't bite you there'". Both caught malaria and fell ill when they got home. Géminiani said: "My temperature got to 41.6 °C ... I

11648-487: Was married to an army captain, Enrico Locatelli. Coppi was married to Bruna Ciampolini. Locatelli was a cycling fan. His wife wasn't but she joined him on 8 August 1948 to see the Tre Valli Varesine race. Their car was caught beside Coppi's in a traffic jam. That evening Occhini went to Coppi's hotel and asked for a photograph. He wrote "With friendship to ...", asked her name and then added it. From then on

11760-637: Was played by Sergio Castellitto and Giulia la 'Dama Bianca' (The Woman in White) was played by Ornella Muti . A commonly repeated trope is that when Coppi was asked how to be a champion, his reply was: "Just ride. Just ride. Just ride." An Italian Restaurant in Belfast , designed with road bike parts and pictures, is named Coppi. Asteroid 214820 Faustocoppi was named in his memory in December 2017. The village of his birth, previously known as 'Castellania',

11872-523: Was renamed Castellania Coppi by the Piemont regional council in 2019, in preparation for the centenary of his birth. Gino Bartali took to raiding Coppi's room before races: "The first thing was to make sure I always stayed at the same hotel for a race, and to have the room next to his so I could mount a surveillance. I would watch him leave with his mates, then I would tiptoe into the room which ten seconds earlier had been his headquarters. I would rush to

11984-466: Was still affected by the death of his brother Serse Coppi , and did not excel. In 1952, Coppi started again in the Tour. He won on the Alpe d'Huez , which had been included for the first time that year. He attacked six kilometres from the summit to rid himself of the French rider, Jean Robic . Coppi said: "I knew he was no longer there when I couldn't hear his breathing any more or the sound of his tyres on

12096-517: Was the Intelligenza , which is sometimes attributed to Compagni but is probably only a translation of French poems. In the 15th century, humanist and publisher Aldus Manutius published the Tuscan poets Petrarch and Dante Alighieri ( Divine Comedy ), creating the model for what became a standard for modern Italian. Simplicity is central to Tuscan cuisine . Legumes , bread, cheese, vegetables, mushrooms, and fresh fruit are used. Olive oil

12208-428: Was the city of science, and philosophical poetry appeared there. Guido Guinizelli was the poet after the new fashion of the art. In his work, the ideas of chivalry are changed and enlarged. Only those whose heart is pure can be blessed with true love, regardless of class. He refuted the traditional credo of courtly love , for which love is a subtle philosophy only a few chosen knights and princesses could grasp. Love

12320-528: Was the increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans. Soon after absorbing Etruria (to the north, northeast, east, and a strip to the south), Rome established the cities of Lucca , Pisa , Siena , and Florence , endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace. These developments included extensions of existing roads,

12432-399: Was treated with ridicule or biting sarcasm . Folgóre da San Gimignano laughs when in his sonnets he tells a party of Sienese youths the occupations of every month in the year, or when he teaches a party of Florentine lads the pleasures of every day in the week. Cenne della Chitarra laughs when he parodies Folgore's sonnets. The sonnets of Rustico di Filippo are half-fun and half-satire, as is

12544-405: Was venerated in the rural, agrarian south, while Coppi, more worldly, secular, innovative in diet and training, was hero of the industrial north. The writer Curzio Malaparte said: "Bartali belongs to those who believe in tradition ... he is a metaphysical man protected by the saints. Coppi has nobody in heaven to take care of him. His manager, his masseur, have no wings. He is alone, alone on

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