Held from 19 to 22 April, the seventh Rally dell’Umbria, which opened the 2018 “Turismo Adventouring” season of the Italian Motorcycling Federation, came shortly before the opening of the general assembly of tourism in Umbria, promoted by the Region, which on 11 May, in Foligno, brought together players and stakeholders to draw up the first three-year Masterplan for this fundamental economic sector and resource for development.
This edition of the Rally dell’Umbria was a happy “rebirth”, after many years of enforced standstill, but, above all, it christened the event’s new social mission, which the Moto Club Umbria had organised from 2000 to 2005 as a competitive fixture, immediately much appreciated, of the European and Italian All-Terrain Raid Championships in the Enduro class.
“The difference between knowing a road and knowing a territory” is the motto chosen by the Moto Club Umbria, and shared by the Region of Umbria, to sum up the new philosophy and reason for being of this event, which brought together 150 motorcyclists along an itinerary that touched 36 municipalities, with three stages of 298, 330 and 205 kilometres, ridden almost entirely on unpaved roads or in any case minor byways.

Discovery of Umbria’s lush territory, and rigorous respect for natural and urban ecosystems: this was the “pact” that sustained this event, uniting the organisers, the Department of Tourism and Sport of the Umbria Region, Provinces, Municipalities, local outreach and promotion bodies, and tourism operators. A proposal of slow tourism, aware, courteous and curious, greeted by three radiant days of sunshine, which “filled with Umbria” the motorcyclists who came from every region of Italy and from abroad: new “ambassadors” of Umbria, in love with the vistas and villages they had ridden through, eager to return soon with friends and family.
As the Vice-President of the Regional Executive and Councillor for Tourism and Sport, Fabio Paparelli, stressed during the press conference on Monday 16 April in the Sala Salvatore Fiume of Palazzo Donini in Perugia, the Rally dell’Umbria offered an original and authentic proposal, one that combines tourism and sport, “offering tourists unique emotions, an experiential tourism that draws them in and lets them live not a holiday, but the holiday. The landscape and the natural beauties, the events, the tourist routes such as the religious Ways. The Rally dell’Umbria ‘weds’ all three of these products and this philosophy”.

Particularly appreciated were certain organisational choices that “connected” the participants to the spirit of this event, beginning with the use of a paper road-book, in a roll to be mounted on the handlebars, to navigate the routes, fostering the value of orientation, of the study and discovery of the orography of the territories (accustomed as we are to modern digital resources), and avoiding recourse to any form of “signage” along the route. Needless, then, to recount the welcome the participants received from the warm communities of Pietralunga, Montarale di Piegaro and Poggiodomo during the three daily mid-route refreshment stops. Just as happy was the choice to reconnect the start and the finish of these three days, in the best tradition of Umbrian motoring events, to the incomparable setting of Piazza IV Novembre (the start) and the Giardini Carducci in Perugia (the finish and the rally village), meeting with the enthusiastic support of Mayor Andrea Romizi and Councillor Maria Teresa Severini, who greeted the motorcyclists in the Sala dei Notari.
The Moto Club Umbria can only be proud of what it has achieved, and grateful to the other local partners – the Fondazione per l’Istruzione Agraria, the Tenuta Baroni Campanino, the Tavola dei Cavalieri and San Biagio. After a week’s pause, its mind is once again in flight over the landscapes of Umbria, and it has begun to work on the coming editions, because successes are always the fruit of work, passion and dedication.
Ad maiora! Umbria!