L’Eroica: how cycling can transform and enhance a region

When, on 5 October 1997, ninety-two men mounted their vintage bicycles and set off cycling through the Tuscan hills, over patches of tarmac and long stretches of gravel and crushed stone, few, or perhaps anyone, would ever have thought that this whimsical adventure could profoundly change the fortunes of their land, elevating the Chianti region to a model to be followed and exported across the world. Because L’Eroica – which was nothing more than a group ride to bid farewell to autumn and work off the leftovers from the refreshments at the ‘Gino Bartali’ Granfondo, which had taken place the previous Sunday – has, in just over twenty years, become an asset for Chianti, for the Siena area and, indeed, for the whole of Tuscany. The event now drives the local economy around Gaiole in Chianti, which reaps three to four million euros from nearly eight thousand participants who stay, eat and drink in the area for several days. Yet the impact extends well beyond those weeks. This impact is not confined to the weeks when the small patch of hills between Gaiole and Montalcino becomes the nerve centre of the historic cycle races; rather, it is a far broader, more complex project that has succeeded in restoring the area’s former stars: bicycles.

First came the introduction of a permanent route that allows cyclists to ride the 209-kilometre Eroica route twelve months a year. There is no fixed start or finish; the journey can be begun at any point along the loop and features five checkpoints – facilities where cyclists can request their travel booklet and have it stamped. ‘Because every cycling adventure “needs a talisman, something to keep and look at every now and then, a key to memories”’, wrote the geographer, speleologist and traveller Luigi Vittorio Bertarelli almost a century ago.

Then came the launch of the second permanent route, the Eroica Montalcino – which takes place on Sunday 26 May – a late-spring offshoot of the autumn Chianti event. Another 153 kilometres, almost half of which are on dirt tracks, taking cyclists through the Crete Senesi.

Two routes mapped out on paper, signposted along the roadside. Two routes that have created something new in this area: a widespread and sustainable economy, far removed from that of mass tourism, which is seasonally balanced, spread throughout the year, and brings benefits to the local area whilst avoiding the typical problems faced by tourist destinations when they are ‘overrun’ by massive influxes of people.

Because these are areas which, as Mario, a restaurant owner from San Quirico d’Orcia, tells Il Foglio, “have never been as popular with visitors as they have been in recent years. In my own case, I’ve seen an increase in visitors of at least thirty per cent over the last three or four years. And I’ve never had so many bicycles outside my restaurant. My wife always says, ‘God bless the cyclists’, and perhaps she’s right.”

It is not only in Tuscany that the importance of cycling within the Italian economy is growing. According to the report ‘Cycle Tourism and Cycle Tourists in Italy’ produced by Isnart-Unioncamere and Legambiente, the number of cycle tourists recorded in Italy in 2018 reached 77.6 million, accounting for 8.4 per cent of total tourist numbers in Italy. This represents a 41 per cent increase over the last five years – from 2013 to 2018 – generating an economic value of 7.6 billion euros per year. This figure is part of the €12 billion GDP – or ‘Domestic Cycling Product’ – which represents the turnover generated by cycling in Italy, including the production of bicycles and accessories, cycle holidays and the overall positive externalities generated by citizens cycling.

An increase in appeal and an economic benefit, which the Chianti and Crete Senesi regions have been aware of for several years now. Andrea Cadamuro, in his degree thesis on Sustainability and Tourism Management, “L’Eroica and Chianti: Stakeholder Event Evaluation for the Assessment of Outdoor Sporting Events from a Sustainability Perspective”, analysed both how “a small-scale sporting event known only locally can grow to become a major international event with low environmental impact” and, above all, “the socio-economic impact of L’Eroica on the Chianti region”. The figures speak for themselves: from 2005 to the present day, both visitor numbers and the number of accommodation places in Gaiole in Chianti and the surrounding area have risen steadily. Visitor numbers in the Chianti region during the third quarter of the year – the quarter in which the historic cycle race takes place – rose from 264,833 in 2005 to 348,654 in 2016. In the first quarter, they rose from 24,958 fourteen years ago to 81,014 in 2016. This increase demonstrates that the benefits derived from tourism are not limited solely to the period of the race, but extend throughout the entire twelve months.

Furthermore, according to figures from the Tuscany Region’s tourism office, the number of cycle tourists has risen by over 130 per cent over the last ten years. And this is despite the fact that there are no cycle routes of national or international significance in these areas. On the other hand, as also noted by the former Belgian Minister for Transport, Etienne Shouppe, “to encourage the growth of cycle tourism in a country, there is no need for major infrastructure, such as cycle routes, but rather to create a widespread cycling network that allows cycle tourists to roam the countryside and discover it”.

Between Chianti and the Crete Senesi lie villages, but above all the hills – rounded mounds stretching as far as the eye can see, pastel colours running alongside and overlapping one another, a sense of tranquillity. These are the views that Primo Volpi – a professional cyclist in the days of Coppi and Bartali, a champion-in-the-making who never quite made it – used to see during his training rides; the ones he described as ‘a little-known slice of paradise’, which are gradually coming to the fore. They are increasingly attracting cyclists from all over Europe, even beyond the vintage bikes and the Eroica. These are the landscapes that form part of the Terra Eroica project, which is nothing more than the idea of preserving these areas and offering them just as they are to cycle tourists. Riders cover fields and countryside, climb hills and pass through small villages, far from traffic and many other distractions, though not from everything. They travel along roads and paths forgotten by cars, beyond the pointless notion that cycle tourism requires infrastructure. These are useful, but not essential. What is needed are the facilities – places to sleep, eat, rest and wash. You adapt to everything else. Respect for cyclists is earned. Bicycles on the road are needed; their presence makes motorists more considerate and cautious. And in this part of Tuscany, they’ve understood that.