:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54652835/GettyImages-494027585.0.jpg)
|
One hundred men and women who played a part in the history of the corsa rosa tell their stories to Herbie Sykes, producing what is possibly the saddest, sweetest, funniest and most thoughtful cycling book you'll ever read. |
Title:
Title: Pedalare! Pedalare! - A History of Italian Cycling
A history of Italian cycling - focused very much on the era of Alfredo Binda, Gino Bartali and Fausto Coppi - that successfully places the sport within the context of changes in Italian culture, economics and society. |
|
An atmospheric telling of the story of Alfonsina Strada, the only woman to ride the Giro di Lombardia (twice) and the Giro d'Italia, told through photographs, poetry and prose. |
Title:
Title: The Story of the Giro d'Italia - A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy - Volume One – 1909-1970
The first part of the most comprehensive account of the who, what, where, when and how of each of the Giro's editions. |
Title: The Story of the Giro d'Italia - A Year-by-Year History of the Tour of Italy - Volume Two - 1971-2011
The second part of the most comprehensive account of the who, what, where, when and how of each of the Giro's editions. |
Title: The Giro D'Italia - Coppi Vs. Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy
One of the masters of Italian cycling journalism, the story of the 1949 Giro and the duel between Fausto Coppi and Gino Bartali. |
Title: Gironimo! - Riding the Very Terrible 1914 Tour of Italy
Tim Moore rides the route of the 1914 Giro on a period bicycle, telling tales of his own misadventures and of the 1914 girini. |
Title: Maglia Rosa – Triumph and Tragedy at the Giro d'Italia
A history of the Giro d'Italia which humanises the mythic nature of Italy's Grand Tour without robbing it of its epic elements. |
Title: Coppi – Inside the Legend of the Campionissimo
A sideways look at the life and times of Fausto Coppi, through stories told by men he raced with and against, illustrated with archive photographs. |
Title: Fallen Angel – The Passion of Fausto Coppi
A by-the-numbers biography of Fausto Coppi. |
Title: The Eagle of the Canavese – Franco Balmamion and the Giro d'Italia
A biography of sorts of Franco Balmamion, the last Italian to win back-to-back maglie rose in the Giro d'Italia, framed through the story of the 1962 edition of the Corsa Rosa. |
Title: The Cycling Professor
A brief autobiography from one of the quiet stars of Italian cycling. |
Title: The Death of Marco Pantani – A Biography
A story of the tragic life and even more tragic death of Marco Pantani. |
Title: Pantani - Debunking the Murder Myth
A response to the attempts to portray Marco Pantani's death as a murder mystery. |
Title: Man on the Run - The Life and Death of Marco Pantani
If you prefer the myth, a rather limp biography of the tragic hero of contemporary Italian cycling. |
Title: Road to Valour - Gino Bartali, Tour de France Legend and Italy's Secret World War Two Hero
An American biography of Gino Bartali that has all the charm of a straight-to-cable biopic, the Italian star's career reduced to Gino wins the Tour, Gino saves the Jews, Gino wins the Tour again. A necessary read for biographical detail, but a chore if you're looking for the story of why Bartali was such a hero in Italy. |
Title: Giro d'Italia – The Story of the World's Most Beautiful Race
A by now familiar history of Italy's Grand Tour that borrows heavily from those that preceded it. |
Title: Corsa Rosa – A History of the Giro d'Italia
An error-riddled 'alternative' history of the Giro d'Italia that borrows heavily from others, adding only erroneous colour. |
|
In addition to the books listed above which all deal directly with the Giro d'Italia (in one way or another), the Café Bookshelf has many biographies and autobiographies of riders who have left their mark on the Giro and in which the race is discussed. Some of these – along with some of the books listed above – have provided detail for a number of articles that have told the stories of individual races:
|