The Giro D'Italia: Coppi Vs. Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy [Paperback]

Dino Buzzati (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1998

This is the first account of Giro d''Italia p ublished in English which includes maps and illustrations of the legendary 1949 Tour of Italy. '

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This is no ordinary tale of the 1949 Tour of Italy, pitting rivals Fausto Coppi (considered the greatest Italian bicycle racer) and Gino Bartali (three-time Giro winner). These recently translated newspaper dispatches of each stage of the race reveal a truly poetic narrative by Buzzati (his style is compared to John McPhee), who captures not only the visually stunning backdrop from Sicily to Milan, "the sun is setting amid dusty reddish halos," but also the fervor among the villagers who swarm dusty streets to see, for a fleeting moment, their heroes battling for the coveted pink jersey through the "velodrome of Italy." From the boat ride to the start to the famous Dolomite stage, Buzzati's account transcends traditional sports reporting, drawing readers to the battlefront with military metaphors and using characters from The Iliad, Achilles and Hector, to illustrate this public rivalry. This is a story of a changing country, divided loyalties, and a two-wheeled race with a unique perspective sure to appeal to bike-racing fans, readers interested in Italian history, literature aficionados, and sports journalists. Brenda Barrera

About the Author

Dino Buzzati (1906-1972) was an Italian editor, novelist, poet, playwright, and short story writer. He has been lauded as one of Europe's foremost experimental writers of the twentieth century.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Velo Press (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188473751X
• ISBN-13: 978-1884737510
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #134,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Bon Bons for the Cyclist, June 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Giro D'Italia: Coppi Vs. Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy (Paperback)

This is a book, not just about one of cycling's great events, the Giro, during one of the classic years of that event, 1949. It is a book of literature, of the Italian people recovering from a decade of war, of the duel between the mindset of war being overcome with the temptation of peace, and of the old decorated hero -- Bartoli -- battling time, the inevitable decline of age, and the young Fausto Coppi.

Each chapter is a bon bon that I savoured until it was over. Written by Buzzati, an award winning Italian journalist who was covering his first bike race, the book contains revelations and explanations that those who are unfamiliar with cycling will appreciate. For those who have descended twisting roads, at screaming speeds, from within the peloton, there are great tid bits. The dreams of the grisanti (the domestique) one day raising his arms in victory -- NOT! The crazy old one, leaving six hours before the riders start and finishing after dark, determined to conquer the entire course. Age defying time. The home town rider, "in crisis just two days before" who wins the stage in front of his teachers, his family, and the president of his local cycling club who once presented him with his first bike. Read this book! You'll either jump on your bike in fantasy or save for that next flight to Genoa. I am grateful it has finally been translated into English.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Tale of Two Tours, May 11, 2000

By 

Christian Thompson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Giro D'Italia: Coppi Vs. Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy (Paperback)

Despite a feeling of something lost in translation, I highly recommend Buzzati's tale of the '49 Giro to anyone interested in Italy, cycling, sports journalism or even World War Two. The book takes the reader the length of Italy from Sicily to the Alps, giving a lyrical look at life in post-war Italy and at times pushing the race into secondary importance. But the race is indeed the story and as a cycling fan I found that the author, who personally admits to a certain ignorance of the sport, had an insight into the race that an aficionado might have overlooked. If you like a mix of fact and fiction, muscle-ache and metaphor, mountain stage heroics and their Homeric interpretations then this is the book for you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars well written, December 1, 2004

By 

john "john" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Giro D'Italia: Coppi Vs. Bartali at the 1949 Tour of Italy (Paperback)

This book gave quite a good look inside post-war Italy and the caravan of the Giro mid-century. Buzatti's writing, while intended as sports reporting, is also much more. This is not a book written by a cycling fan, but a fan of the sport simply by dint of being Italian, and you can see it in the expectations put upon it's heros. To say it is an unbalanced account would be an understatement- Buzzati had never seen the Giro before beginning these reports and it shows through in his tone, elevating his protagonists, Coppi and Bartali, above the entire peleton and up amongst the gods and heros of Homer. This is sport writing at it's most epic and romantic, and for the subject matter it definitely works. Writing about cycling in Italy feels like it should be passionate and over-blown. (Even if that is, perhaps, a stereotype) The translation was not great, but was balanced enough to give a sense of Buzzati's prose while keeping all of his references and allusions to Italy and Italian history -too many cycling books are dumbed down for english-speaking audiences. That having been said, the writing was still a little bit too clunky, you get the feeling it could have been quite poetic in the right hands. As literary cycling prose this book is quite good as non-fiction, but not quite up there with Tim Krabbe's fictional The Rider.