Cosi fan Tutti

Cosi fan Tutti.

Everybody is going it.

Doing exactly what you might ask coyly?

Riding a bike. Certo. The Italians have been doing it longer, with more flair (bravissimo) and in greater numbers a lot longer than we (gli americani) have been. They have also been riding in what an old friend of mine from the Dante Aligheri Society used to call Paradiso. Paradise. Like in Heaven. As in perfecto.

For those of you lucky enough to have ridden the Dolomites, Roma, Tuscano, Umbria, Le Marche, South of Naples or Sicily, you know of what I speak. There are many adjectives in both languages that add color to the terrain, my favorite being spectacalore. I think you can translate.

As we were warming up for another suffer fest in the HoP early this morning, my jersey (il gallo nero) started some conversation about past Italian cycling holidays, and of course, how much fun they were, and how expensive (molto caro). And then, of course, how much we would all like an encore.

Got me to thinkin'. Why not see if we can find a like-minded group in Italia that might want to engage in a reciprocal cycling adventure? Allora, twenty come here for a week to ride, we put them up, feed them, host them, entertain them, guide them, set up bikes to ride so their luggage fees and travel hassles are minimized, shuttle them, and in turn they do the same for us on their turf. In a perfect world, under this system the only out of pocket expenses would be air fare. Wow. Che bella.

So I am using the vast International powers of the RCVman blog to cast out the first net. Anybody out there in Italy want to play?

With all due respect to Amadeus, this could be great fun, an opera buffa of epic proportions.

Grazie tanti amici.

Photographia, alto a basso.: La strada a vicino de Genoa. La Serenissima, Venezia. Day before the Palio in Sienna and The Tiber from Castelo Sant'Angelo.