In Motion

La dolce ciclovita per l'Italia

In Motion presents an unique cycling experience through Italy. From the 1st of September, Michelangelo Lamonaca, Vivian Rustige and Laura Mann will cycle for six weeks from the northernmost border of Italy (Brenner) to the southeastern (Santa Maria di Leuca) for draw attention on the importance of sustainable mobility and sustainable tourism together with other cyclists. Here you can learn more about the project, how to participate and support it.

Our aim is to commonly narrate a story about the importance of slow mobility, create a platform of exchange by bringing different people together and continuously reaching a common goal. We want to move together in a nature-friendly and soft way embedding our journey in workshop formats, activism, expert talks and a wide network of engaged citizens, associations, companies, and public administrations and together move in an alternative way.

Route

From North to South-East
By Bicyle

We believe in the potential of bikes and, we believe we can only make a change together. Therefore, we decided to cycle together in an international, inclusive, and joyful crtitical mass from the North to the South of Italy

This bike-ride is separated into eight thematic routes and cyclist can join them along the route.

routemap

Workshops

Participatory workshops about sustainability

routemap

In different workshop formats we will stop throughout different urban and rural contexts and hold different workshops to adress the topic of sustainable tourism and mobility from different perspectives and approaches.

The main guiding principle is to combine a both cognitive and emotional approach to the topic working with experts and local stakeholders on the one hand and cultural and activistic elements on the other hand to make the concept tangible and understand it holistically. Examples for that can be the critical mass, expert talks, a bike cinema, analysing local mobility plans, round tables and petitions.

Interactive Map

Collecting information from the road - collectively

Since sustainable mobility is not only an individual problem but more a structurally embedded issue we want to raise awareness to public administations through an interactive map. This map is based on observations of local citizens, essences of discussions with stakeholders and administrators and personal insights from the street.
This map is never finished, anyone can contribute adding new cycling initiatives and organisations, bike-repair-cafés, bicigrills etc. - all regarding a to creating a network of cycling culture.
For creating a safe and inclusive cycling infrastructure people can orientate a planned travel on our track we went from the North to the South. By repeating or just going a certain part, they can add dangerous spots to be aware or suggest new routes.










About

In Motion is a project created at the Free University of Bolzano during the research semester for the master's thesis in collaboration of two students of the master's program Eco-Social Design. Vivian Rustige from Bavaria/Germany (landscape architect) and Michelangelo Lamonaca from Puglia/Italy (product designer) share a passion for sustainable mobility and therefore joined forces in October 2021 to answer the question:

How can we tackle climate change in a joyful and collaborative way considering our limited sphere of action? What does sustainable mobility mean? How can we build an international network of citizens, associations, public administrations and cooperations with the common interest of moving differently forward? In August 2022, Laura Mann (social economist) and student of the Social Design program at the University of Applied Arts Vienna joined the team to strenghten the network and add another perspective.

routemap

Chapters

Choose your favourite chapter

The chapters are organised in a way that you can easily join us by bike during our trip to a trainstation at the beginning of every chapter

Chapter #1:
Alps and Pianura Padana
Brennero-Bologna: 01.09. - 07.09.

We begin our journey through Italy in Brenner, gradually descending from the alpine landscapes of Trentino-Alto Adige to the flat landscapes of Emilia-Romagna. We will cycle on some well-equipped cycle routes, such as the Ciclovia del Sole, and touch on cities known to bike tourism such as Bolzano, Verona, Modena and Bologna.

Open route
Chapter #2:
Romagna
Bologna-Pesaro: 08.09. - 13.09.

We leave Bologna behind to enter, along the Via Emilia, the Romagna region and do not miss a taste of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines at our friends from Habitattt (Tredozio, FC). We conclude this chapter by crossing the sea at Rimini and continuing on to Pesaro.

Open route
Chapter #3:
Adriatico Centrale
Pesaro-Marina di Chieuti: 14.09. - 21.09.

On this route the sea view to our left and a few dips will not be missed. We will cycle on one of the most beautiful and interesting coastal Italian cycling routes. We will mainly cycle along the coast.

Open route
Chapter #4:
Gargano
Marina di Chieuti-Canosa di Puglia: 22.09. - 27.09.

We want to enter Apulia starting just after the Molise border and devote an entire chapter to the cyclo-exploration of the Gargano area. In the first part we travel between the lakes of Lesina and Varano and the sea and then enter the Foresta Umbra Nature Reserve. We descend to the sea and conclude this tour along the Margherita di Savoia salt pans.

Open route
Chapter #5:
Appennini meridionali
Canosa di Puglia-Venosa: 28.09. - 04.10.

The tour returns inland and heads towards the ridge of the Southern Apennines in Campania, to Caposele, where we visit the origin of the Sele River and begin our journey along the Apulian Aqueduct. This chapter stops in Venosa, the birthplace of the Roman poet Horace, after having travelled several ups and downs between Apulia, Campania and Basilicata.

Open route
Chapter #6:
Murgia
Venosa-Gioia del Colle: 05.10. - 09.10.

We remain in the southern hinterland, but return to Apulia and discover the Murgia plateau, a naturalistic area with masserie scattered here and there and Castel del Monte, a medieval castle of Frederick II of Swabia. We conclude the route by returning to more populated urban areas near Gioia del Colle.

Open route
Chapter #7:
Valle dei Trulli
Gioia del Colle-Villa Castelli: 10.10. - 12.10.

We would like to dedicate a section specifically to the Itria Valley, passing through its characteristic Trulli (white houses with cone shaped roofs) in Alberobello and Locorotondo. The Apulian Aqueduct Cycle Route will reserve us pleasant architectural surprises and suggestive rides along this route.

Open route
Chapter #8:
Salento
Villa Castelli-Santa Maria di Leuca: 13.10. - 16.10.

In the last chapter of this long journey, we enter Salento from Villa Castelli. We catch a glimpse of the sea from afar and enjoy a few good glasses of Primitivo wine in Manduria before arriving in Santa Maria di Leuca and launching ourselves into the sea on our bicycles to celebrate!

Open route

The only way to reach revolution is by bicycle.

Journey

This happened so far...

Let's merge mobility with sustainability!

In collaboration with the coworking space Drin.bz we organized a participatory workshop for interested citizens and stakeholders from our sustainable mobility network. Till the first of January 2022 citizens of Bolzano had the opportunity to comment on the new draft of the sustainable mobility plan (PUMS) for Bolzano. We used this occasion in the role of catalysts to build a bridge between citizens and municipality and provide various tools for citizen involvement and participation.

Wear your helmet! It's sexy!

Since a lot of cities were planned for cars and cyclist are still victims of deathly accidents, we thought about a campaign to raise awareness for bicycle safety. In collaboration with Solveigh Artschwager and Theresa Handig, we realized the campaign “Safe is sexy” in 2021 which outcome is a poster and a calendar with diverse pictures that show how sexy it can be to wear helmets.

Go out, cycle and be loud

Activism is a crucial column of our project. Since the mobility issue is not only an individual but also a structural problem, we use the tool of activistic action to raise awareness for the topic in a peace- and joyful way. Beginning of 2022 we danced in a parking house dressed up in self-made cars-costumes to re-question the way we are using public space. In collaboration with Spazio77 and Pedale Radicale in Bolzano we initiated a critical mass movement which was an opportunity for exchange, curiosity, and common positioning.

Knowing more

For facing the topic of sustainable mobility, we are multiplying our research methods in various ways to understand the topic from different points of view. From public interventions to case study analysis and contextualizing the topic within the topic of science and research we conduct expert interviews with e.g. Felix Strohbach (Strobonaut), Fahrradkino Münster e.V., David Callas, Günther Innerbner (Helios), FIAB Bolzano, Brendt Barbur (International Bicycle Film Festival), Markus Lobis (Kyklos).

Action

Take action in various ways:
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