RAMATO COLUMBUS SL, 1983

‘You can see it on the Magni bike, but here is what the Ramato colour would have looked like when new,’ says Gastaldello. ‘ Rame means copper, so Ramato is like “coppered”. This special finish was discovered in the 1940s when the company was still in Bassano. It is a chemical treatment of the chromed steel beneath it.

‘This bike would have been made here in Rossano and painted by the same external contractor we use today – we still have Ramato colours on our carbon frames. This bike was not ridden by anyone famous but it is an important part of our collection because it shows the colour that became a symbol of both the racing team and the company. We still make a replica version of this bike for collectors looking for something different and beautiful.’

That replica, the Superleggera, is made in Italy (albeit by a contractor) and, like this 1983 example, sports Campagnolo parts. Yet no matter how beautiful modern Campagnolo groupsets are, they pale in comparison to the 50th Anniversary gruppo featured here, adorned with 24-carat gold inlays, titanium parts and founder Tulio Campagnolo’s signature engraved on every part. In total 15,000 were made, with the first kept by Campagnolo and the second presented to Pope John Paul II.

The frame pump is a classic Silca Impero, while the bottom bracket lug is Cinelli, from an era when Wilier’s compatriots still did a roaring trade in cast lugs, which the company would sell to other manufacturers as well as use for its own bikes.