The Giro d’Italia passes in Massa Lubrense

In the spring of 2023, the Giro d’Italia, by going through the Sorrento Peninsula, will pass in Massa Lubrense.

The 106th edition of the Giro d’Italia, 2023

This year’s Giro d’Italia (tour of Italy) will begin on May 6, 2023, starting in the Marina di Fossacesia, Abruzzo, and ending on May 28 in Rome. The riders will cover a total of 3448.6 km with up to 51,300 m of elevation gain. There will be 21 stages in total with different levels of difficulty.

Stage 6: Naples-Naples

The tour will arrive in the Sorrento Peninsula during the sixth stage, both starting and finishing in Naples, on May 11, 2023. This will be a short and intense stage between the chief town of Campania and the Amalfi Peninsula. From Naples the riders will coast Mount Vesuvius from the north side to climb the Valico di Chiunzi and enter Amalfi in a circuit that runs along the entire Amalfi coast. They will face a series of twisting roads that will end in the Pompeii area from where the race will continue basically straight to Naples. The final sprint will take place on the seafront of Via Caracciolo, where a non complete group is likely to show up. The cyclists will cover a total of 156 km.
It is during this stage that the Giro di Italia will pass through Massa Lubrense.

The last time the riders travelled these territories was 10 years ago, in May 2013. In that year, one of the stages of the race started from Sorrento, passing through the Monti Lattari, the Amalfi coast, and on to Paestum and Cilento. The mayor of Sorrento would like to make his city a stage city again for the next edition of the Giro di Italia, in 2024.

This sporting event has always been one of the most followed by Italians. Every year there are many citizens who take to the roads to watch the passage of the riders and cheer them on. The streets are colored pink and flags wave in the crowd. Not only live, but as always the event can also be watched on television.

Historical background and curiosities

The Giro d’Italia is a men’s cycling race whose first edition was organized 114 years ago, in May 1909. At the time, cycling was considered among the most watched sports in Italy, even more than soccer. The route counted 2448 km and was organized in 8 stages including, as today, uphill and flat sections. From then on the race was organized every year, except for the period of the world wars, involving athletes from all over the world. This cycling competition is among the three greatest in Europe.

The symbol of the Giro d’Italia has always been the iconic pink jersey, worn each year by the winner.
Why pink? This color was chosen to pay homage to the Gazzetta dello Sport, organizer and creator of the event, whose newspaper pages are precisely the same color. Athletes, however, can also win other types of jerseys based on their performance, such as blue, white or cyclamen.