Racing Toward History - The 2007 Giro d'Italia

The 2007 route of the 90th Giro d'Italia was announced this weekend in Milan, Italy. The 2,138 mile long bicycle race, to be held on May 12, starts in the tiny island of Caprera off the northeast coast of Sardinia and honors the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the man who unified Italy in 1860, the hero of the Risorgimento.

Garibaldi retired to Caprera and is buried in a granite tomb there. The island's museo G. Garibaldi is well known throughout Europe. Today Caprera is a Wildlife Sanctuary, and car traffic to the island is limited.

The Caprera stage of the Giro will be a 15km team time trial. At least five of the Giro's stages will be connected with Garabaldi (see Organizers unveil history-dominated 2007 Giro d'Italia).

The race also honors three touchstones of Catholocism by including "3 Italian locations which are famously devoted to the Holy Mother: the sanctuary of Montevergine in Avellino, the sanctuary of La Madonna della Guardia in Genoa and the sanctuary of Oropa in Biella." (AGIonline)

The race finishes in Milan on June 3.

Sardinia is one of my favorite islands to visit. For a map, see the Sardinia Distance Map from Italy for Visitors. For more on Milan, see Milan Travel Essentials .