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Widely acclaimed book on Motorcycle History, evocative race posters
Art Print - Renzo Pasolini 1973

Copyright Jan Burgers printed on 250gsm Kodak paper

 

Italian poet Guiseppe Galassi was commissioned to write picture captions for the acclaimed book '200 Miglia di Imola, La Daytona d’Europa' edited by high-living moto-journalist Ezio Pirazzini, who famously said of his vocation, “It is better to write than work.”

 

A month after the 1973 Imola 200, Galassi was watching the 250cc Nations Grand Prix at Monza live on TV. 

 

“It’s 3pm. The speaker is commentating on some repeated images of Giacomo Agostini’s victory in the 350cc. Renzo Pasolini, always his great protagonist, halts the second (sic) before the last lap. They were wheel to wheel. Now there is the 250cc. They have started. A few long minutes go by, endless minutes. It’s the end of the first lap; Mario Lega is at the head. Where are Saarinen, Pasolini, Kanaya and the others? There is a feeling of tragedy in the air. The men of courage, sheathed in leather, are returning to the boxes with death in their eyes. The TV speaker goes on to comment in a tuneless voice.

 

"I’m in pain. I call Monza, the pressroom. Ezio Pirazzini is there.

 

“'I want Pirazzini.'”

 

“Just a moment, please…”

 

"I wait. I am waiting. Nothing. I dial again. “Give me Pirazzini, my God! It’s urgent!” I cannot find him. There is a great confusion. I hang up the receiver. I have understood everything. They are dead, someone is dead. I lean my ears to the television speaker. I change the channel. It’s a tragedy.

 

"Pasolini and Saarinen are dead."

 

"Why did it happen to them? Why two big champions, why do two men have to soil the track with their noble blood? Agree, it had been their choice. This is what cools me. I have met them a few weeks ago at Imola. I was there to write about them, and their deeds. I shared with Jarno a Bologna sandwich. Now he is no more. He has been buried under the earth with the great Viking chiefs. Take the winds of fate anywhere, they will fill your boat. I want to remember you in this way, without a tear, with your brave, fearless smile. I hear a crow in the branches. Now you’re sleeping tight."

Art Print - Renzo Pasolini 1973

PriceFrom $27.00

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