I don't keep about this trip any written testimony. I don't remember if the journal got lost, or if it never existed. Perhaps I had decided I was going to rely only on the photos, and as a matter of fact since that year I began to use much more my camera, and I realized that the duty of searching subjects forced me to observe more attentively what surrounded me. It is also for that reason that I consider the "3rd CICLOGIRO CLODIANO" the first true "ciclogiro". This word, "ciclogiro", synthetizes for me the idea of a way of travelling and, extensively, a philosophy of life. Who read and loved "Le petit prince", probably remembers the page where Saint-Exupery talks about the encounter of the little prince with the pills merchant, and then he'll understand what I mean. The cyclotourist, in other words, is a little prince who enjoys the slowness and basks in the beauty. And if the places of today are ugly, he can easily withdraw from there, and lose his thoughts in the marvels he saw yesterday.

Even without the journal, I could reconstruct the itinerary of that trip by consulting the photo archives and the maps.

STAGE 1 - Milano - Ivrea, km. 120
Without any digression I go along the state road number 11, which near Santhià changes its number and after Cavaglià changes it one more time. The very bright green of the rice-fields at the beginning is cheerful, but afterwards it becomes boring. I visit Novara and Vercelli. In Ivrea, in the evening, there are hundreds of swallows. Perhaps I'm exaggerating: dozen of swallow.

STAGE 2 - Verrès, km. 90
I go up the Valle d'Aosta, between castles and Roman ruins, (Roman road of Donnas), up to Châtillon, where I cross the Dora River and turn into the narrow road that runs parallel to the national one. It's very quite, almost totally in the shade, but it's more wavy than the state road. I come to the castello di Fenis, that is so picturesque that it seems false. When you know that it's authentic, it becomes even more beautiful. I come back to the state road, and facing up to a furious wind in the dazzling light of the afternoon, I come to Verrès.

STAGE 3 - Biella, km. 65
I go up abruptly to Andrate (836 m), by a steep slope, and from Croce Serra (853 m) I go down later along a road pleasantly panoramic, passing through Donato and Netro, where there's a very ancient little church so lopsided that it's cuddly. Meanwhile the weather gets worse tirelessly. Arrived at Graglia, I take the road to the homonymous sanctuary, intending to close the ambitious ring including the other famous sanctuary in that area, that is Oropa. But besides the dark sky, I am driven to leave off by the view of a car which in the first meters of climb stops with its engine baked. So I head straight for the Parco della Bùrcina, that sounds very fine. But the light is so dim that it looks like the little garden near home in a foggy November day. The sky is very dark now, and I have just the time for going down precipitously to Biella and taking shelter in a hotel. If I remember rightly, nevertheless, after all it didn't rain.

STAGE 4 - Casorate Sempione, km. 159
The beginning of the day is very glorious, almost a hymn to astuteness: I cover 15 km toward Romagnano Sesia, and suddenly a doubt crosses my mind: did I take my identity card at the hotel? This doubt turns out to be rightful. How beautiful: 30 km for nothing! From Romagnano I go up to Varallo along the Valsesia, and then, having passed the top of La Colma (942 m), I go down to the Lago d'Orta, on its west coast. I go south as far as Borgomanero, then east passing through Sesto Calende, in which, from the bridge over the Ticino, one can admire a wonderful view onto the Monte Rosa, in the clear days (not today, unfortunately). Passing through Somma Lombardo, where there is a beautiful castle just alongside the state road of Sempione, I reach Casorate Sempione.

STAGE 5 - Lecco, km. 115
About the first part of the itinerary my memory doesn't assist me. I'm sure of having passed through Arsago Seprio and Castelseprio, afterwards I came into an area where probably traffic signs hadn't yet been invented, and I got lost. About all this part of itinerary, up to Arco di Trento, I don't keep any photographic testimony, because, as I was going to discover in Arco, I had inserted the roll into the camera in a wrong way. In the second part of this stage, however, I surely went up to the Madonna del Ghisallo (754 m), and down by vortical hairpin bends as far as Bellagio. At last reached Lecco by the wonderful state road along the lake. In Lecco it starts raining, and the proprietor of the hotel says that when God has to make it rain in one place only, He chooses always Lecco. I was going to discover in the next days that things are not really like that.

STAGE 6 - Clusone, km. 88
I go south, passing through Pontida, and then go to Almenno San Salvatore and San Pellegrino Terme. Weather is getting worse, but I decide anyway to head for the Presolana. Near Oltre il Colle, over 1000 meters of altitude, there is a fog as dense as a sabayon. It starts raining, it's very cold. The downhill, after Oneta, leads me to cross the Val Seriana, and at last I go up slowly, under a constant drizzle, to Clusone. Here the woman proprietor of the little hotel where I lodge moves me deploring the horrible weather: it has been raining for about a month, every single day, and guests escape, or cancel their bookings.

STAGE 7 - Brescia, km. 74
A ridiculous day. The sky is cloudy already in the morning. I reach Lovere along the road that runs parallel to the Borlezza river, and then I go clockwise along the Sebino. If weather was decent, it would be a very beautiful itinerary. When I arrive in Iseo it starts raining cats and dogs. Since I don't intend to spend all the day under a porch, after having put on my feet two plastic shopping bags tied with elastic bands (an awful expedient, I don't recommend it), I decide to dive into the deluge and to try reaching Brescia. Rather soon I splash about in 30 cm of water. I put on the k-way and another mantelet, but it's like being under water. The cars which overtake me raise waves that submerge me up to my knees. I arrive in Brescia at 12 o'clock and take refuge in a hotel near the rail station. My one occupation till the end of the day is to hang out all my things to dry, included the banknotes. If someone came in, he would have believed that that were the laboratory of a falsifier.

STAGE 8 - Arco di Trento, km. 114
Bad weather seems to want to offer a day of break. I reach the southern coast of the Lago di Garda, passing through Desenzano, Sirmione (so beautiful but so crowded), Peschiera, and go on along the lake toward north, to Lazise, Bardolino (where there's an early Christian little church very fascinating), Garda, and so on, up to Riva del Garda. Arco di Trento is not far.

STAGE 9 - Belluno, km. 148
I go along the state road 45 bis up to Trento, a wonderful city. Then I go on along the state road 47 of the Valsugana, very busy. 25 km after Borgo Valsugana I take left for Feltre. The first kilometers rise very much. In the city centre of Feltre, distracted by the charm of the place, I go down too abruptly from a sidewalk breaking a spoke of the rear wheel. I was going to realize it only some days later, pointed out by some cyclists. How do the other cyclists behave towards cyclotourists? If the cyclotourist rides alone, they draw up willingly and cover even long distances paired off. Usually they want to know a lot of things, taking advantage of the uncommon opportunity of talking to an Italian cyclotourist (we are so few that who approaches me always speaks in English, taking for granted that I'm a foreigner). Running through the same road, I come to Belluno at supper-time, quite tired. Even today weather has been mild.

STAGE 10 - Vittorio Veneto, km. 66
I have programmed a tour in Alpago and Cansiglio, but already at leaving, wearing the k-way, I understand it'll be a hard day. The higher I go, the colder it gets, and it's foggy. In short, I persuade myself that I'm going to come to these places in a better time. In Spert, instead of going on to Cansiglio, I go down toward the Lago di Santa Croce, under a chill rain. Within 20 km I am in Vittorio Veneto.

STAGE 11 - Bassano del Grappa, km. 78
The worst seems to be over: the sun is shining when I leave. On the road leading to Valdobbiadene, after a few kilometers, I stumble on the magnificent Abbey of Follina (1, 2, 3, 4).
The Valdobbiadene area exhibits a spectacular succession of hills all covered with vineyards. Crossed the Piave, I come to Possagno, where I make for Asolo, whose beauty is world-famous. Further 15 km, passing through Mussolente, and I am in Bassano.

STAGE 12 - Montagnana, km. 97
Another sunny day accompanies me up to Cittadella, surrounded by walls and by a nice park. Then I take the state road to Vicenza, leaving it very soon for a series of secondary roads (Vo Vecchio), pleasantly ignored by traffic. Thereby, almost without realizing it, I come in a short space of time in front of the majestic walls of Montagnana (1, 2, 3).

STAGE 13 - Rovigo, km. 45
It's curious that sometimes, realizing I have to cover a few kilometers on the flat, I struggle more than in a long stage on the Alps. In this cases, one starts weakly, without never finding a fair pace. However today my itinerary is marked by two important places: Este and Monselice. Rovigo is less interesting, and arriving here very soon, I take advantage of it having a good sleep, meanwhile outside a big storm breaks out.

STAGE 14 - Guastalla, km. 135
This time I arrive in Ferrara not burnt, but on the contrary just too wet. What most astonishes me in Ferrara is the stunning multitude of bicycles. As far as I know Ferrara is the Italian city with the highest number of circulating bicycles per number of residents. A storm breaks out a little before my arrival in Carpi, where I consider stopping, but afterwards I decide to arrive up to Guastalla.

STAGE 15 - Piacenza, km 128
I go along the southern shore of the Po, passing through Colorno. After a brief visit in Busseto, crossed the Via Emilia near Fiorenzuola, I ascend to Castell'Arquato, that is well worth a visit. A peaceful secondary road goes down very gradually as far as Piacenza. The weather is dry now, but my trip is close to its end.

STAGE 16 - Milano, km. 85
Through narrow country roads, with some brief stops in Orio Litta and Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, I reach my house just at lunch time. I covered 1607 km in 16 days, with an average of 100.