Gino Bartali's historic yellow jersey from the 1948 Tour de France restored

Opera Laboratori has restored the historic 1948 Tour de France yellow jersey worn by Gino Bartali (Ponte a Ema, 1914 - Florence, 2000) and then donated by him to the church of Santa Petronilla in Siena, just outside Porta Camollia, where three of the great Tuscan cyclist’s jerseys are located, given to the parish as a sign of his friendship with priest Don Bruno Franci. In fact, on Monday, August 9, 1948, Gino Bartali fulfilled his promise to give his dear friend Don Bruno Franci the yellow jersey worn in the 21st and final stage, the Roubaix-Paris, of his second triumphant ride on the roads of France and with which he made his entrance at the Park of the Princes. The cyclist and the priest were longtime friends: they met on the Feast of the Assumption in 1935 at Vallombrosa, and from that day they weaved a close web of relationships. Bartali was in fact a steadfast believer who found in the Christian faith not only the teachings and comfort but the very energy necessary for his daily actions, in competition, in the family, and in the extra-sporting gestures that made him world famous.

The energetic Don Franci (a handsome man, very tall at almost two meters in stature, and very sporty for the times) was the figure best suited to understand the inner essence of the champion and perhaps the only one capable of identifying Bartali’s frailties. In July 1937 the Sienese priest rushed to Marseille to the bedside of the champion forced to retire from a ruinous fall during the Grénoble-Briançon stage of the Grande Boucle, and in September of the following year Bartali gave him a maillot jaune of the eleven worn in his first triumph, that of 1938. Bartali often went to Siena to visit his friend and pray in his church, and fans did not miss the opportunity to have a word with the great champion. He also went there in late June 1948 before leaving for Paris.

The jersey donated by Bartali on August 9, 1948 has now been restored and will be displayed in Gaiole in Chianti, on the occasion of the 25th edition of theEroica. The yellow jersey is the symbol of a race that has left deep traces in Italian history and literature: in fact, Gino Bartali won the 1948 Tour de France when by then, at 34 years old and ten years after his first triumph, he seemed to be without a chance. During the rest day in Cannes, with eight stages to go, Luison Bobet was in yellow, and the Florentine champion followed him 21 minutes behind, before the arrival of the Alpine stages. Italy that day was shaken by the assassination attempt on Palmiro Togliatti, secretary of the Italian Communist Party. The stage saw arrival in Briançon, the Col d’Allos, the Vars and the Izoard were in the way, the day was terrible, with lots of rain, and impossible roads, but Bartali’s action devastated everyone and the Florentine rider came close to the lead. The next day, in the stage leading from Briançon to Aix-les-Bains, it would be victory again, with the lead in the standings taken. Then Gino’s march became triumphant, seven stages and a final yellow jersey, won by more than 26 minutes over the second, Belgian Brik Schotte.

The restoration of the yellow jersey of the 1948 Tour is part of a larger project of restoration and enhancement of all three historic jerseys (among the very few that have survived the passage of time) desired by Don Dino Arciero, parish priest of the church of Santa Petronilla, and a group of Sienese sports and history enthusiasts. A restoration that became necessary both to safeguard their integrity (for decades, in fact, the three jerseys were displayed in the church in the chapel of Santa Teresa in a simple reliquary, lacking protection from pathogens) and to properly enhance them. A project, however, that would probably have remained in the state of wishful thinking without the active support of Opera Laboratories.

The recovery of the three Gino Bartali jerseys (two of which are still in progress), represents for Opera Laboratori a very special opportunity in the field of textile restoration. In fact, it is not only a matter of researching and applying the most appropriate technical solutions to the particular materials involved in the intervention, but also of taking care of and proposing suitable solutions for the subsequent exhibition project that will represent the point of arrival of the entire articulated valorization program. These are objects that require a particular reading that in part goes beyond the “classical” approach that is normally reserved for an artistic textile artifact on the occasion of its recovery. In fact, the restoration project proposes to ’reconnect’ not only the woolen threads that constitute the deteriorated material, but also the threads of memory that link the figure of the legendary cyclist to History. In fact, the jerseys are characterized by a strong symbolic value, a union of two aspects of Bartali’s personality: they encapsulate both the representation of the mythical value of the character (exhibition of tenacity, strength, and the sporting value of the feat) and the humble testimony of faith, as they became votive offerings dedicated by Bartali to St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, to whom he was particularly devoted. The simultaneous presence of these two different aspects must be safeguarded in every way: after the structural and visual recovery of the links, it will be necessary to consider very carefully the most appropriate display solutions, since it is these that will determine the most correct reading of the objects.

The opportunity to present as part of the L’Eroica event the yellow jersey worn by Bartali when he made his victorious entry into Paris in 1948 constitutes the first stage in this journey. The card accompanying the jersey, restored by Cecilia Rigacci of Studio Rigacci in Siena, bears a dedication that expresses in touching words all the vigor and dedication with which he succeeded in the historic feat. During the first stages of this restoration, a cleaning operation was carried out by immersion in a mild detergent bath so as not to alter those traces that represent the essence of the history of the mesh. A brief and intense use, which left indelible marks that testify to the fatigue of the feat: as memory traces are still present the stains of the tires worn woven on the shoulders, the spatters scattered on the surface, the felted areas localized in the points where the friction of the athlete’s body on his garment was greater. It was therefore necessary to mitigate as much as possible the negative effect of the holes caused by the moth infestation. The consolidation work was carried out with an appropriately dyed backing, which made it possible to reinforce the entire structure while also visually filling in the countless gaps present.

Pictured is the mesh after restoration.

Gino Bartali's historic yellow jersey from the 1948 Tour de France restored

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