Two event evenings at the Villa Manin
14 and 15 June 2025
Cycling, with its epic stories and its legendary mountains, is the protagonist at Villa Manin di Passariano, in the Barchessa di Levante, with two unmissable evenings dedicated to two-wheel enthusiasts and sports memories.
The protagonists of the evening on Saturday 14 June at 8.30 p.m. will be Beppe Conti, cycling historian and regular contributor to RAI sports programmes, and Antonio Simeoli, cycling correspondent for Messaggero Veneto and author of the book Zoncolan: the mountain becomes a myth. Through RAI images and the passionate tale of the two guests, ten iconic stages of the pink race in FVG will be retraced: in Piancavallo and on the Zoncolan, on the Montasio Plateau, in Udine and in Trieste. From Marco Pantani to Gilberto Simoni, from Saronni to Cipollini, the exploits of the greats of the pedal will be relived. There will be no lack of a glance at the deeper past with the memory of the historic and much-discussed stage in Trieste in 1946 and of the much-loved Giordano Cottur who entered his city, a city that was not yet Italy, in that difficult first post-war period. And then an exciting journey to discover the many small, lesser-known stories that characterised the dozens and dozens of stages that unfolded in our region.
Sunday 15 June at 8.30 p.m. will be the turn of the projection of the docufilm ‘Ottavio Bottecchia – El furlan del fero’, written and directed by journalist Franco Bortuzzo, with editing by Luca Zanoli and the narrating voice of Francesco Pancani. An intense and documented work that recounts the human and sporting parable of the great Friulian-Venetian champion, the first Italian to win the Tour de France. Through the testimony of historians, journalists, cyclists, actors and family members – including the direct nephew Ottavio Bernardi – the film reconstructs the rise, the triumphs and the tragic and mysterious end of Bottecchia, who died in 1927 at only 32 years of age. The documentary is enriched by precious vintage images of the Tours between 1923 and 1926, from the French Gaumont Pathé archives. At the end of the projection, Franco Bortuzzo will talk with Renato Bulfon (Ciclismuseo di Mortegliano), a passionate collector of historical cycling memorabilia, among which, of course, unique pieces dedicated to the great champion.
Two evenings of sport, culture and memory to celebrate the deep bond between cycling and Friuli Venezia Giulia, ‘a small compendium of the universe’ as Ippolito Nievo defined it, a land of tough climbs, strong passions and stories to tell.
Free admission.
The evenings are part of the programme of the exhibition ‘Una regione in bicicletta: il ciclismo in Friuli Venezia Giulia nella collezione Bulfon’, open to the public until 14 September.
