Guest Stories: Claudio d’Orazio

The Crazy “Canuck”: An Italo-Canadian Journey with Ciclismo Classico

My passion for Cycling was instilled during my childhood, growing up as a first-generation Italo-Canadian. I often dreamt of tracing my roots back to  Fossacessia, Abruzzo — Forte e Gentile — and riding the very roads my grandfather and father once did. I learned early in life, seeing firsthand the struggles and hardships of growing new roots in a new country. Their mental fortitude, gained through perseverance and endurance in their cycling exploits, served them well for the life skills required to succeed.

They introduced me to Cycling. My grandfather, a pre-WWII racing champion, was inducted into his hometown hall of fame, a moment marked by a plaque presented to him in Toronto by his native town’s ambassadors. He loved to recall his race-day ritual — “Banana per la Forza & Vino per Coraggio” — banana for strength, wine for courage. My Dad trained as a young teen in the early 1950s alongside none other than Alessandro Fantini, a multiple-stage winner of the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. My father went on to marry my mom and immigrated alone to Canada in the mid-1950s and earned the money needed to reunite with his beautiful Bride almost 2 years later.

I finally reached a point later in life where hard work and success allowed me to pursue my lifelong goal: to discover my roots and ride those roads. I began the pursuit of my dreams and embarked on self planned rides. After much research, on how I could supplement my experience so I could concentrate on the rides and less on the planning, I discovered Ciclismo Classico. Their passion for Cycling and Adventure brightly shone through.

My first Ciclismo tour was the marvelous Bike Across Southern Italy, a ride that took me through the very heart of my ancestral homeland. This ride touched many of the places where rubber hit the road of my ancestry. The ride started with a view of the Adriatic Sea from Polignano a Mare, Puglia. It was hard not to feel the emotions and the lump in my throat recalling the endurance of the hard climb up to the beautiful town of Castelmezzano, Basilicata, which I think cyclists can relate to. While making the sacrifice necessary to endure the aching pain in your legs, the rhythmic sound of your breath and your heart, I fell into a trance and had a hallucination of seeing my grandfather and father riding alongside me—a priceless experience.

During our stay in Morano Calabro, we found ourselves singing old Italian folk songs with our guides and the musicians organized by Ciclismo during a spectacular dinner (we blamed it on the wine…). The ride ended in Bonifati-Cittadella del Capo, Calabria, with a wonderful stay in a medieval tower and dinner overlooking a beautiful sunset. What a way to cap off our adventure.

Thank you to Ciclismo and to Massimo, Luca, Suzie, and Holly for a wonderful experience!

Andiamo!!!