Search Party

While walking through Ferrara, Italy, I was snapping photographs of the many bicycle users. I snapped snots of these two.


Moments later I realised they were looking for each other and caught the moment when they made visual, rather than telephonic, contact. And off they went on their bicycles together.

Umbrella City

Ferrara. Again. It's hard to let go of the city. It was raining on the first day and I've never seen so many people using umbrellas whilst cycling. Anywhere in the world, although Japan is a close second.

Loads in the Netherlands, sure, but Ferrara has them beat.

And not just any old umbrella - they are, as a rule, big, splendid umbrellas that you don't often see anymore elsewhere.

Umbrellas and bicycles. A match made in heaven. A century-long long love affair and they're still in love.

Meeting a friend. Having a chat.

The Dapper Gents of Ferrara

We're not going to let the Fantastic Female Cyclists of Ferrara run off with all the Cycle Chic glory. Their male counterparts have it ALL goin' on, too. Here's a tribute to the stylish older gents of the Italian city.

Ferrara's Fantastic Female Cyclists

The City of Ferrara - Italy's leading bicycle city with 30% modal share for bicycles - is rather extraordinary in many ways. One of the sure signs of a healthy bicycle culture is the so-called "gender split" featuring an equal number of female and male cyclists. In cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen there are more women on bicycles than men and in Ferrara, the statistics match those two cities - 55% women and 45% men.

While Ferrara has over 20,000 students at the university and the nightlife is suitably lively, it was amazing to see so many "older" bicycle users in the city. Men and women alike. In fact, I've never been anywhere in the world where I've seen so many elderly bicycle users in one spot. Dutch and Danish cities would be hard pressed to match Ferrara on this point.

This has been the case for many, many years but having influential female politicians certainly helps maintain it.

We met with the vice-mayor of the city - at left - and the president of the Province of Ferrara - at right - while in the city. The vice-mayor joked that they don't have a female quota in their politics - but rather a male quota.

Here are some photos of Ferrara's healthy and fabulous bicycle users over "a certain age". Brava!

Impeccable style in traffic.

Red rush with splendid hat.

Still going strong.

Heels and wheels.

Brilliant coat.

Rolling to the market.

Flowers on the basket.

Banking on Ferrara

Just got home from a visit to Ferrara, Italy's great bicycle city with 30% of it's citizens moving around by bicycle. Like in the previous post, banking is done from the saddle.