Qn a few weeks ago I went to the theater (I hadn’t been there in forever) to see Forlorn, a play directed by a good friend of mine (Laura Garau, actress, director and optimist by nature) in which the interpreter and writer of the lyrics Michele Vargiu tells a sports story (I stole the title of this article from them, they will forgive me, or at least I hope!). I don’t want to spoil anything about the show (if you can go and see it, it’s on the calendar in several cities in Italy, it really deserves it), so I’ll just say that the atmosphere and the acting get you so much into the story that you really feel like you’re living it, and the protagonist becomes your friend, Of those that you know they will always make it, no matter what happens to them. It is a story from the province, from the province of Modena to be precise, from a small town called Castelfranco Emilia, where there is a little girl pedaling around the white roads in the middle of the night on her bike. Bikes that actually it’s not really his, but it belongs to his father, who uses it for work and would not want it to be borrowed–moreover secretly–by anyone, because it is needed to bring home the bacon, and it is good that it is preserved as much as possible. But Alfonsina – that’s the name of the protagonist of this story, Alfonsa Rosa Maria Morini, known as Alfonsina – very often disobeys her parents’ wishes because
she wants to ride a bike
and wants to participate in races. At that time, however-we are in the early years of last century-riding a bicycle is something that good girls do not do, races then,
what nonsense
! Those can only be done by men, of course.
But Alfonsina won’t stand for it; she continues to sneak her father’s bike, trains at night by sneaking out of the house, pretends to go to mass on Sundays to instead go first to watch, and later to participate in, races in neighboring towns. Because she is passionate, of course, but .
Is mostly good
. And at that time, with the almost equal technology between “work” bikes and “sport” bikes, even with her old and shabby bike she manages to keep up with many, many men, and even begins to win a few races.
She really goes fast on her bike, Alfonsina
. One day, one of those days when she pretended to go to mass and instead went to Reggio Emilia to participate in a competition, she wins a piglet. That brings home pride, and it also makes the family start to realize that maybe some competition can do it, especially if there are prizes like that. And serious competitions he is starting to do and win a lot of them. At the age of 20, she set the women’s world speed record in Moncalieri, grabbing headlines and becoming a minor celebrity in the sports world, so much so that she was contracted to compete in international competitions at the Vélodrome in Paris.
At the age of twenty-four she married Luigi Strada and took his surname (as was customary at the time, but what a sign of destiny to be called
Strada
for someone who rides a bike!) and for a wedding present she received a racing bike, with which she began to reap successes one after another. In 1917, for the first time in the history of competition, she participates in the Tour of Lombardy. She comes in last, but she arrives. The following year she tries again. Penultimate. The press, which previously issued almost only stinging and malicious comments (which unfortunately we see even today in some cases, a hundred and more years later) begins to get passionate about her exploits. In 1924 she found herself, due to family vicissitudes, having to lead the family alone and decided to enter the Giro d’Italia. There is no rule against it, and her entry is accepted. She leaves and for the first seven stages she always manages to arrive within the time limits, even in the penultimate and not last position, as the newspapers had predicted from the start, but on the eighth stage, in Umbria, he gave in and exceeded the maximum time allowed. She is therefore ousted from the rankings, but her popularity and the pressing demands of the public (including King Victor Emmanuel III) mean that she is still allowed to participate in the race, although no longer competing. She completed all the stages and arrived at the finish line, the first and only woman to compete with men in the Giro d’Italia. After her, no one else, because we are still in the 1920s and Italy-the world-is not yet ready for gender equality.
Almost 100 years have passed since this story unfolded, and Alfonsina Strada has inspired hundreds of women and men, helping them by the example of her stubbornness to achieve their goals-or at least try to do so. The latest inspiring book, among the dozens that tell her story, is that of
Linda Ronzoni
e
Silvia Gottardi
,
Female cyclists by chance
. If you’re not satisfied with what you’ve read so far about her and want to know a little more of her story, try making a few calls to bookstores in your area and see if they have it available, otherwise you can buy it
here
.
Happy reading and enjoy watching the play!