Il garibaldi del giro ;) twitter.com/DCunego/status…
— Damiano Cunego (@DCunego) May 3, 2012
Want to know everything about the Giro? Then, you should totally download the official Giro d'Italia road book, the Garibaldi. The cover, pictured here from Damiano Cunego, bills the Giro as "the hardest race in the world in the most beautiful country in the world." I've got no argument there.
The road book is the racer's and team director's bible for the race. It includes all the raods and where to turn, the details of the finishes, where the car deviations are, and the profiles for the major climbs. This is high-level bike race geekery, right here.
Since I'm from California, I immediately picture a fish when I see Garibaldi, which in this context is totally wrong. The Giro's road book is named for the Giuseppe Garibaldi, who unified Italy in the nineteenth century. Symbolic, eh? I could go on about this, but I will spare you my Western Civ. lecture on the unification of Italy. There were lots of Italian states, then there was one. The end.
Want your own copy? Go to this link for a (very large!) pdf of the Garibaldi. Happy Giro!