Health and Safety Italian style

I once asked a garden designer when you could think of a garden design as finished, given my wife is forever tinkering with ours. "When the budget is spent" was the initial, rather cynical answer, followed by a more thoughtful "when the client needs it finished by."


So it is with stories. When I put the feelers out for info on the Circuito del Lario for the piece in Benzina #4 I had no idea how the tales would trickle in. Here's one that came in yesterday, too late to make the printed copy.

High up on the circuito is a 12th Century church, perched on a sharp bend the riders took at speed. Not all of them made it, and crashed into the church doors damaging rider, machine and the church. The solution in 1930s Italy? Leave the church doors open during the race, so that wayward riders could use the church aisle as an escape route. Only in Italy...