Dicastery for Culture and Education
Press Release
POPE LEO XIV TO GREET THE CYCLISTS OF THE GIRO D’ITALIA AS THEY PASS THROUGH VATICAN CITY STATE
On Sunday 1 June, at 15.30, Pope Leo XIV will greet the cyclists of the Giro d’Italia as they pass through Vatican City State.
The event also recalls Pope Francis, who had accepted the proposal presented by Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, and realized together with the Governorate of Vatican City State and Athletica Vaticana.
The project of the passage of the Giro d’Italia in the Vatican – the “first stage” that anticipates the Jubilee of Sport to be held on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 June – was initiated on 28 October 2021 on the occasion of the ceremony for the consignment to Athletica Vaticana of the certification of recognition as an official member of the international cycling Union. It was presented last 29 April at the Capitoline, by Bishop Paul Tighe, secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education.
The last stage of the 108th edition of the Giro d’Italia will start at the Terme di Caracalla. In non-competitive mode, the cyclists will enter Vatican City from Via Paolo VI through the Petrian Entrance.
The route inside the Vatican walls is about 3 kilometres long: every metre tells a story and suggests spirituality, in an interweaving of art and nature with a varied and unexpected fauna.
The cyclists will ride past the Basilica and the sacristy of Saint Peter’s, and then ascend in the direction of the Vatican Gardens, passing the church of Saint Stephen of the Abyssinians, the railway station, and the area of the Palace of the Governorate.
They will then ascend towards the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, the Grotta of Our Lady of Lourdes, Saint John’s Tower and the heliport. They will then follow the wall – along the so-called “Marian route”, a genuine “world tour” made possible by the presence of many images of the Mother of God venerated as patroness of the various countries. The “Marian route” begins with the mosaic of the Mother of Good Counsel, dear to Augustinian spirituality.
The route then continues to the Secret Garden and the Vatican Museums. With an avenue dedicated precisely to sport, even the layout recalls the races at the behest of Pope Pius X at the beginning of the twentieth century. The cyclists will then ride along Via delle Fondamenta – below the Sistine Chapel and next to the apse of the Basilica – before arriving in the Santa Marta square and leaving Vatican City via the gate in Vicolo del Perugino.
The official “start” of the race will be given in Italian territory.
A short history of cycling in the Vatican
There is a history lived with a spiritual soul of the people that will accompany the athletes of the Giro d’Italia – and the entire world of cycling and sport – as they ride along the paths of the Vatican Gardens.
On 26 June 1946, Pope Pius XII received in audience, in the Courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican, the cyclists who participated in the Giro d’Italia, before the start of the ninth leg (Rome-Perugia, 191 km). That Giro (number 29), was won by Gino Bartali and the stage by Aldo Baito (with Vito Ortelli in the pink shirt). At the end of the audience, the cyclists (and the entire “caravan” of the Giro – departed (by car and bicycle) from the Vatican, passing by the Arch of the Bells, and crossing Saint Peter’s Square.
On 14 June 1950, Pope Pacelli received the cyclists participating in the 33rd edition of the Giro d’Italia, at the General Audience in Saint Peter’s Basilica. The race had concluded the previous day in Rome with success in the stage (230 km, starting from Naples) for Oreste Conte and the final victory of Hugo Koblet.
On Saturday 30 May 1964, Pope Paul VI, at Castel Gandolfo, received in audience the participants in the 47th edition of the Giro d’Italia. The day before, stage 14 (210 km, starting from Caserta) had arrived in Castel Gandolfo, with the success of Vittorio Adorni and Jacques Anquetil in the pink jersey, who then went on to win the Giro. That Saturday 30 May, the cyclists left from Rome to arrive in Montepulciano (214 km, won by Nino Defilippis).
“If all sport is human, for us Italians the Giro d’Italia is umanissimo”, said the Patriarch of Venice, Albino Luciani (elected Pope in 1978 with the name John Paul I) on 20 May 1972, symbolically launching the 55th edition of the Giro d’Italia, which began the following day. The Venice-Ravenna stage (196 km) was won by Marino Basso, and the race by Eddy Merckx.
On 4 July 1973, in the Santa Marta square in the Vatican, Paul VI blessed the monument in front of the Shine of Our Lady of Ghisallo, proclaimed by Pius XII as patroness of cyclists (13 October 1949). On several occasions, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis supported the sporting spirituality of the shrine.
On Thursday 16 May 1974, in the Courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican, Pope Paul VI received in audience the cyclists participating in the 57th edition of the Giro d’Italia. On that occasion, the Pope symbolically launched the race and the cyclists left from the Vatican, passing beneath the Arch of the Bells and crossing Saint Peter’s Square, after riding along the Via delle Fondamenta. The stage (the first of that Giro) ended in Formia (164 km), with victory for the Belgian Wilfried Reybrouck and the final success for Eddy Merckx.
On Friday 12 May 2000, Holy Year, Pope John Paul II received in audience, in the Clementine Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the cyclists participating in the 83rd edition of the Giro d’Italia, on the eve of the start, which tookplace with a chronometer in Rome (4.600 km, won by Jan Hruška, an athlete from the Czech Republic. The final classification saw Stefano Garzelli in the pink jersey.
