STRAIGHT TO AGO’S POOL ROOM
Giacomo Agostini is motorcycling royalty, so being granted an audience with the 15-time world champ at his hilltop home in the northern Italian city of Bergamo, is a bit like having tea with the Queen at Windsor Castle. But the most successful grand prix road racer of all time, with 122 race wins (plus one World F750 victory) and 159 podiums from 186 starts, has now teamed up with his daughter Vittoria to offer a half-day visit to his newly-opened Sala dei Trofei (trophyroom).
“It’s not a museum, not while I’m still alive!” insists Ago.
This contains a vast array of memorabilia acquired during his stellar 15-year racing career, including as many of his 364 race trophies he could squeeze in. The Visitors Package includes this visit, followed by dinner with Ago and overnight at the family’s elegant nearby Villa Vittoria B&B. The chance to pay a private visit to the freshly opened collection, with Ago at my side, was a preview of the kind of experience available to any race fan.
“I had all my trophies piled up in a small room in the house, and didn’t even know how many I had – I thought around 250 or so, but it turned out to be almost one for every day of the year!” says Ago, who at 77 is just as magnetic and affable a personality as ever.
“My wife Maria and I had decided to downsize now the children had left home, so we bought a very pretty smaller villa
