I'm getting older (and even slower). In November 2018 I finally turned 40 and, thinking about me when I started racing and looking at triathletes of 39-44 category, is really strange. I thought: "they are old! they should stay home and think about something else". But I found out that being slower gives you a different point of view when you are on a bike.
Sicily is special in many ways. After 40 years of living here, I still discover hidden gems of beauty where the silence and the sound of your wheels is the only thing that you really need.
Every time I'm travelling around Sicily in a car I always look at every road thinking "I should have had my bike with me!"
Well this summer I discovered (on discovery channel... shame on me!!!) a small town called Gangi. This place is really special because is part of the network of "I borghi più belli d'Italia" (the most beautiful small towns in Italy). Some year ago, since this place was on top of a mountain in the center of the island and there is no chance to get a job, the town became almost depopulated. So the Mayor decided to give away uninhabited houses for €1 to people that had to spend €35.000 in 5 years to fix them.
Now Gangi has become a real gem. Turists are coming from all over the world to visit it. There are a lot of activities, restaurants and art exhibitions. But mass tourism is not there yet.
So for my birthday I decided to have a really special party with my closest friends. We started from Catania and went to Gangi on a Saturday and the day after we came back from Gangi to Catania from another road! Along the way we could see Nicosia, Sperlinga and other fantastic places. In total we had 300km of beauty, good food and spectacular landscapes.
Tommaso
