Old Bike Australasia

Eyes Right Reviews

By Leopoldo Tartarini and Giorgio Monetti

- Review by Gaven Dall’Osto

Published by Lullabit.com Italy Price: Euro 49.50 To order: www.lullabit.com/product/road-map-illeggenda­rio-giro-del-mondo-di-tartarini-e-monettisu-ducati-175/

This book is about the epic journey of 2 Italian guys, who in 1957 set off on a tour of the world on new 175 Ducati Turismos. The cover shot, taken by legendary Aussie photograph­er Phil Aynsley, is a closeup of the fuel tank of Monetti’s 175 complete with the names of many of the cities they visited scribbled on it. The hard cover book includes a rear compartmen­t housing a bonus CD and a DVD. Its official release was a function at the Ducati Museum on the 7th October 2018. Unfortunat­ely, Tartarini passed away on the 11th Sept 2015 aged 83 but Monetti was there as the guest of honour.

The book is a compilatio­n of the letters, telegrams, and magnetic tape narrations which were exchanged between the riders, Mr Montano, family and friends, with photos taken on the journey and the original Italian text and English translatio­ns side by side for easy reading. Leopoldo ‘Poldino’ Tartarini and Giorgio Monetti were both natives of Bologna born in 1932 but came from different social background­s; Tartarini winning many endurance races such as the

Milano Taranto and the Moto Giro. Giorgio came from a well to do family and discovered a passion for travel, nature and motorcycle­s and was happier pursuing these than a profession­al career.

Their 175s were fitted with a single saddle allowing a large tail rack which dropped down to support suitcases each side and a complete rear wheel on the back. Preparatio­ns were scant with a paper map with the scale of one finger length representi­ng about 3,000 km. They were at least provided with a list of offices of an internatio­nal Italian travel agent and Ducati agents as points of call to promote the Ducati name. Crossing five continents and visiting 35 nations, they were subjected to numerous dangerous situations. Feeding back to the factory, they constantly praised the little bikes which rarely gave trouble even under the most arduous conditions. Their reports from Australia weren’t favourable, suggesting that the Italian immigrants were the only relief from the Aussies who didn’t work much and drank too much. After an estimated 100,000 km, they returned to Bologna on the 5th September 1958.

The book then includes their lives after the tour. Tartarini went on to manufactur­e Italjet motorcycle­s, while Giorgio became Ducati’s Manager of Internatio­nal sales. The DVD contains a retouched account of the 16mm footage they took (80 minutes) along the journey. There is also a copy of the documentar­y ‘1 Mappa per 2’ (1 map for 2) which can be viewed with English subtitles

(71 min) and a CD of the sound track.

A fantastic compilatio­n and a snapshot of history.

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 ??  ?? FOOTNOTE: Most of our review titles come via local distributo­rs and we encourage readers to support the retailers noted with each review.
FOOTNOTE: Most of our review titles come via local distributo­rs and we encourage readers to support the retailers noted with each review.

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