The Motogiro Italia (vintage motorbike race) came through Bagni di Lucca on Friday. The original Motogiro began in 1914, with 56 riders, only 18 of whom finished the race. It has changed many times over the years and there have been lots of years when the race didn’t go ahead for several reasons.
It is now distance rally, with time trials over several days and competitors are escorted by Polizia over the 1,000 miles (1,637 kilometres)
There were several Australians in the race, including a couple of regular visitors to Ponte a Serraglio, so lots of Australian flags were raised in their honour.
It was great fun to see the old bikes come through Ponte a Serraglio.
…and even more fun to see our friends arrive…and depart.
The race ended a bit later in the day at Montecatini Terme. I’m sure the riders would have been very happy to get off their bikes for the last time.
Bella Bagni di Lucca 
More great reminders of your lovely village
The girls from the bar did a great job with the flags.
Very colourful and beautiful! Glad that they went to Bagni di Lucca. Thanks for sharing it with us, Debra!
It was great fun, pity they didn’t stop at Ponte.
Thanks for the lovely post Debra. It was a very hard event this year testing our bikes, bodies and minds all the way. The blisters on my bum and muscle pains will no doubt heal but the memories will stay with me for a lot longer. Special thanks to Bar Italia for displaying the Aussie flags and supporting us.
I am very glad I stayed in town long enough to see the race. It was great fun to watch you all come through Ponte. I hope your blisters heal soon.
Thank you so much for staying on and putting this beautiful post together! There hardly seemed to be any locals curious enough to come and watch though? Or was the piazza closed for traffic?
Have a safe trip home and thank you for all your wonderful and colourful stories. Take care!
We were all sitting in the shade at Il Monaco to watch the race. I was more interested in photographing the riders than the audience.
Well done to the Aussies……Trust Paul is recovering and I’m sure he is already looking forward to next years event.
There were only 4 Australians in the race. Some unkind English visitors were heard to comment that it was a bit much having all those Australian flags up for so few riders, but Paul and Richard are very popular visitors to BdL.
What a great thing to do, to fly the Aussie flag. There are some interesting bikes there and, no doubt, some interesting characters.
It is a fairly gruelling race on the old bikes. It was fun to watch.