A while back, in September 2013, to be exact, I wrote about Italy’s VenTo cycle motorway project. Well, in the meantime, Italy has changed government and has acquired a new culture and tourism minister. I wondered if this has caused the Vento project problems so I give the VenTo people a call last week.
I am, very, pleased to be able to report that despite having to propose the project once more in order to convince Italy’s latest culture and tourism minister, the VenTo project for a 679 kilometers, 422 mile cycleway, from Venice to Turin is still very much alive and kicking, according to project technician Alessandro Giacomel.
The Vento project has also received funding from the Cariplo Foundation – part of the Cariplo bank and has acquired more staff too. Seven people are now at work on the project, before there were only three.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
While Italy’s first cycle motorway is still a long way off realization, it does appear to be heading in the right direction.
Personally, I’d like to be able to cycle the whole of it, perhaps with the Guardian’s Rome and Vatican correspondent, Lizzy Davis who wrote about Vento after hearing about it via Italy Chronicles’ complementary @newsfromitaly Twitter account.
Fingers crossed! I will continue to keep an eye on the progress of the VenTo project.
