Minutes of a Motorcycle Addict

I have to admit it. After visiting Mandello del Lario this summer I'm craving for yet another Guzzi. A veteran one.

Reflection and carburettor

At the end of June we headed south. I'd already prebooked an apartment in Piemonte for an extended stay there, and we even took the car this year. But first we had to pay homage to Mandello. Neither my daughter nor my wife had ever been to this to us Guzzisti Sacred Shrine of Guzzi Goodness, so we decided to take a couple of days there.

Mamma Ciccia is THE place to stay while in Mandello, and Silvia had made everything ready for us when we arrived. Just a week before we came to Mandello the weather was rather lousy they told us. But not now, with temps hovering well above 35 C.

Prime Norwegian Guzzisti Roar and his wife Nina. They've visited Mandello each year for the last 20 odd years. Roar rides a Guzzi 1200 Norge, while Nina rides a Buell Adventure. Despite this Nina is a keen Mandellista.

Mandello to us is all about Guzzi. We paid our respects to Carlo Guzzi at his grave, as we did to Duilio Agostini's. We wandered the streets of Ing Giulio Cesare Carcano and Lafranconi. We visited the museum at the factory, and had our pictures taken in front of the Red Gate which, together with the yellow building, has become a landmark for Guzzisti all over the world.

Wandering along the streets of Mandello we suddenly encountered an entourage of German classic Guzzi riders. One on his classic Falcone 500, one on his Astore 250 and the third on a Lodola, which by the way was the last that was designed by Carlo Guzzi himself in the mid-Fifties.

It was then the craving for another Guzzi became stronger. A classic one. A veteran one. So now I'm trying to talk my wife into the fact that we actually need a classic veteran Guzzi in our garage. Not necessarily the steeply priced Falcone, but perhaps a nice Astore, or Super Alce...

Three days in Mandello might have got her heart beating for the bikes too, so who knows...?

No complaints regarding the temps...

A Falcone, an Astore and a Lodola. German plated.

The Falcone was a popular bike amongst the Italian Polizia from the Fifties throughought the Sixties.

The Germans had apparently participated in a classic run from Milano to Taranto with their noble Guzzis.

Getting ready for departure. They all three fired right up.

Duilio Agostini died in 2008, just a week before I came to Mandello for my first time. Duilio was well known amongst the Guzzisti, both for his racing career and for establishing one of the most venerable Guzzi shops around. He only shared his last name with is far more famous racing name brother Giacomo Agostini.

Daughter Oda properly inaugurated to the Guzzi world by having her picture taken in front of The Red Gate of Mandello.

A pic of a pic which hangs on the wall at the Guzzi museum in Mandello,
showing Duilio Agostini (12) ahead of Dickie Dale (34) and Bill Lomas.

Just as a sidenote: While we were in Monforte, Piemonte, after our Mandello visit, the local wine farmers arranged their first Veteran Tractor Rally. Fun stuff!