Tranquillo

BUON FERRAGOSTO! Ferragosto is a national holiday in Italy that celebrates going on holiday! Dating back centuries, Ferragosto traditionally marked the end of the harvest season, when friends and family gathered together to enjoy the fruits of their labor. The festival also coincides with Assumption Day, the Catholic feast day celebrating Mary’s ascent to heaven. Today, Italians celebrate with colorful religious processions, festivals overflowing with live music and fireworks, and – our favorite – great feasts. Roma comes alive for the Gran Ballo di Ferragosto, a city-wide party during which every street, square, and corner is dedicated to dancing; Siena overflows with locals and visitors alike to watch Il Palio, a historic horse race in the central Piazza del Campo of the medieval Tuscan town.
But nota bene: after Ferragosto, most Italian cities transform into ghost towns as residents flock to the beach to start their summer vacation. If you find yourself in Italy in mid-August, post offices, banks, and markets are likely to be closed for le vacanze.

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Public service announcement: If you watched the Tour’s Étape 21 on Sunday, loved the atmosphere in Montmartre and are thinking of making the trip next year, here’s a few bits of info that might help.. the place to be is Rue Lepic, it’s a relatively modest climb of just over 1km averaging 6%. It’s all barriered from start to finish, all cobbles too and gets steeper the further up you go. It leads up to the Sacré-Coeur basilica. My advice is to get there early - very early. The steeper parts are occupied by local cycling clubs from as early as 10am. I rocked up at 1pm and managed to get a space on the barriers on the lower section. But that was over 5 hours before the riders. It filled up pretty quickly after that time and was rammed 6 or 7 deep by late afternoon. There’s a few bars and cafes there too for refreshments and of course toilets! There’s an InterMarché supermarket at the bottom of the climb. Also worth noting that there is no caravan through Montmartre - it stops on the Champs-Elysees on the final stage, but sponsors are set up on the Rue Lepic and some walk the cobbles to adorn the crowds with everything from t-shirts to bucket hats. The atmosphere is unbelievable - cheering, singing, clapping all afternoon waiting for the riders. It was probably my best ever fan experience at a race. And once the race has passed and the street guys move in to clear barriers etc hang around - the bars and restaurants are buzzing in this area, and there’s a great party vibe. If you’ve got any questions then just DM me and i’ll help wherever I can.

Next framed jersey is up in the bike store. This one is a signed Giulio Ciccone polka dot jersey from the 2023 Tour De France. One of my favourite riders who I’ve followed since his break out season when riding for Bardiani CSF in 2016 (where he won stage 10 of the Giro D’Italia). As well as the 2023 KOM at the Tour, he’s also won the mountains classification at the Giro twice (2019 & 2026) and worn the leaders jerseys in both the Giro (👚in 2026) and the Tour (🟡 in 2019). A puncheur that likes a breakaway he’s also had some good results in classics - 2nd in Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2025, 3rd in Il Lombardia in 2024 and taking the win in the Clásica de San Sebastián in 2025. And he’s Italian - so that counts double for us at Tranquillo 🇮🇹. More jerseys to be added to the wall over the coming months. 👍🏻 -trek

Wow. That was some race. Some atmosphere. What a spectacle this thing is - a bike race which brings thousands to the roadside hours before the riders pass. Such a joy.