Learned something about Gino Bartali today.

[maydog]

This is an interesting piece of history:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/29/sport/gino-bartali-saved-italys-jews/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

 

[oldbobcat]

There's a biography about Bartali, The Road to Valor: A True Story About WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation, by Ali and Andres McConnon.

Bartali tried to stay out of politics but he was compelled by local Catholic church leaders and his sense of decency to do his part to help save Italian Jews from fascism and Naziism, smuggling forged citizenship papers for Jewish refugees. After the war, his winning the 1948 Tour de France was said to help calm and unite the nation after the attempted assassination of an Italian Communist party leader.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

That's a great article, Maydog! Thanks for posting it.

 

[limerickman]

Originally Posted by oldbobcat
There's a biography about Bartali, The Road to Valor: A True Story About WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation, by Ali and Andres McConnon.

Bartali tried to stay out of politics but he was compelled by local Catholic church leaders and his sense of decency to do his part to help save Italian Jews from fascism and Naziism, smuggling forged citizenship papers for Jewish refugees. After the war, his winning the 1948 Tour de France was said to help calm and unite the nation after the attempted assassination of an Italian Communist party leader.

Bartali was a very religious man by all accounts.

One interesting aspect that I have read about him was his views, or lack of, regarding the lifestyle of his great rival Fausto Coppi.
Coppi led a life which was pretty radical compared to Bartali.
The Italian press always wanted a juicy comment from Bartali about his great rivals way of life, but Bartali kept his own counsel
throughout.