In the last decades of the nineteenth century, humanity was cradled in an euphoric climate and in a carefree optimism that permeated the sciences and the arts, but also the common conception of life. The philosophical current of Positivism fuelled not only culture, but also public opinion, indirectly influencing daily life. The discovery of "leisure", the right to entertainment, the practice of sport -now accessible to all social classes-, and each individual, according to their economic needs improved their quality of life. If nobility travelled for pleasure, the bourgeoisie did no less, using less luxurious means of transportation and less elegant hotels but did not deny the pleasure of attending events such as the 1896 Olympics in Athens or the first football matches, sailing races, and cycling races. Cycling was practiced by all men in various social classes: even the less well-off men, with many sacrifices, bought and used bicycles. 
In Italy, the “heroic age of cycling”-for males- was strongly connected to nationalistic ideals, in 1909 the Giro d’Italia was born and a few years later, bicycles became a common tool in WWI. In the 1930’s, the popularity of cycling facilitates what becomes a battlefield for conquering the minds and hearts of citizens through politicized cycling clubs. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, while the country was trying to recover from WW2 devastation, Italian –male- cycling was at its peak of popularity, in its golden age. Today, in spite of the automobile, cycles are very popular as transportation and leisure machines in many Italian cities, and cycling competition continues to be a cherished sport. 
Italian female cycling however, has its own story. In Italy, women on a bicycles were seen as a manifestation of the devil and subject to laughing stock during the 19th century and half of the 20th. But for women, the bicycle was more than an instrument of emancipation, it was a possibility of freedom of mobility. Women not only gained physical mobility that expanded their horizons beyond the neighbourhoods where they lived as pedestrians, but discovered a renewed sense of freedom of movement: in the change of clothing, in the mounting of a purely male saddle, in defying men. A feeling of liberty previously limited by the rigid customs of the time, as well as by the sensitivity of the period. The bicycle has redefined the social and even political role of the female universe. For women, the end of the nineteenth century became an era of movement, leisure, speed, but above all freedom. In regards to sport, women had to stumble their way through most of the 20th century, until finally, after 1985 we are able to see the cyclist permanently cycling and officially competing with ever greater diffusion.