In the 1930s, Bartali, a son of Tuscany, was one of the leading cyclists in the world, a man admired by all.
He had won three Giro d’Italia titles — one of the three major European cycling events — in addition to his triumph at the 1938 Tour de France and was very much the country’s poster boy.
And yet for a man who lived in his life in the full glare of the public, a new film, My Italian Secret reveals a very different side to Bartali’s remarkable life.
Directed by Oren Jacoby, the film shows how Bartali was part of a secret Italian resistance movement which helped hide the country’s Jews during the Nazi invasion of 1943.
Using the handlebars on his bike to hide counterfeit identity papers, Bartali would ride to Jews in hiding and deliver their exit visas which allowed them to escape transportation to the death camps — he is credited with saving the lives of 800 people.
“He never talked about what he did during World War II,” said Jacoby. People loved him, they adored him. Italy was so proud of him.
“He risked his life to save others and it’s a story which Italy is now embracing.”
Wheels of fortune
Born in Florence in 1914, Bartali was a devout Catholic whose parents were married by the local Cardinal, Elia Angelo Dalla Costa.
It was Dalla Costa who recruited Bartali into his secret network at a time where much of Italy had been ceded to the Nazis.
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“Dr Borromeo invented a fake disease to scare the Nazis off and prevent them from searching the hospital,” said Jacoby.
“He called it ‘Il Morbo di K’ and used it to protect the Jewish people who he was hiding.
“He would say to the Nazis, ‘hey, you guys can come in but you’ll get this disease and it could kill you’.
“He saved many people — but it didn’t really hit home until some of those he saved turned up at our screening. That was incredible.”
Bartali remained intent on being remembered for his cycling success — his second Tour de France in 1948 was remarkable given it came a decade after his first victory.
It was only later on in life after meeting Cassuto’s daughter that he agreed to speak about his experiences, though he insisted that he would not be recorded.
While Bartali’s cycling achievements are remembered each year in an event dedicated to him and fierce rival, Fausto Coppi — the annual Settimana Coppi e Bartali race — his legacy in the wider world lives on.
“He hid us in spite of knowing that the Germans were killing everybody who was hiding Jews,” Goldenberg’s son, Giorgio, says in Jacoby’s film.
“He was risking not only his life but also his family. Gino Bartali saved my life and the life of my family. That’s clear because if he hadn’t hidden us, we had nowhere to go.”
