This is the little-known story of Alfonsina Strada,

born Alfonsina Morini in Castelfanco Emilia – an extraordinary

woman who accomplished extraordinary

feats. Alfonsina came from a family of nine siblings

who lived in the direst poverty in a small Emilian

village. Rebelling against her miserable destiny and

the judgment of others, she started riding a bicycle,

dreaming to become like Gerbi, Ganna, or Petit

Breton. She became “Alfonsina Strada”, queen of the

crank, die-hard pistarde, the devil in a skirt.

Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning

of the 20th century, at a time when women

were expected to become wives, mothers and homemakers,

Alfonsina boldly hopped on a man’s bike,

flying in the nose of conventions and blazing the trail

in the history of sports and of women’s rights. She

raced in Bologna, Turin, Milan, Paris and even Saint

Petersburg, where she was praised by the Tsar Nicholas

the II after setting the women's record. Alfonsina

was the only woman to race alongside men and to 

finish the Giro d’Italia in 1924, completing one stage

with a broomstick instead of handlebars. In the wake

of her huge popularity, she became a star of the

circus and of variety shows before retiring and opening

a bicycle repair shop in Milan, whose customers

included Coppi and Cavanna. She died in 1950, aged

68, while trying to restart her Guzzi 500.