Saluti---
I was watching the classic, 1948 movie, "The Bicycle Thief," a.k.a. "Bicycle Thieves" and "Ladri di biciclette" last night when, toward the end of the picture, a group of racers fly past the two lead characters (father and son Antonio and Bruno) as they sit on the steps of a building across the street from a large soccer match taking place in Rome's Stadio Olimpico (opened 1937).
Intrigued, I rewound, played and paused the footage again and again until, on the jerseys and shorts of the riders, I could discern the following: S.S. LAZIO.
In scanning the CR archives I've never seen anyone mention the name of the above club, though some have mentioned the 1947 edition of an Italian race, Giro del Lazio.
As it turns out, the soccer (football) club playing across the street from the characters in the movie is a well-known "A" level professional club, S.S. Lazio, so undoubtedly this sporting organization also sponsored a cycling team, and the producer of the film made arrangements with them to facilitate the shooting of the above-mentioned scene.
Anyway, I thought some of the Italian afficionados might enjoy the above facts and the links, below. Unfortunately, some really promising links when I did a search of "S.S. Lazio Ciclismo" which mention Fausto Coppi are dead, but here are some live ones I found---
Wikipedia entry regarding the soccer team/sporting organization S.S. Lazio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/
An entry (in Italian, which is easily translated) on the history (founded 1900) of Polisportiva Lazio (which includes in its list of sporting teams S.S. Lazio Clicismo):
http://it.wikipedia.org/
A page showing the 2005 membership of the S.S. Lazio Ciclismo team Ladispoli (direct descendants of the team in the movie?):
http://www.cyclingnews.com/
Internet Movie Database link for "The Bicycle Thief":
http://www.imdb.com/
If anyone has more to contribute on the movie or the S.S. Lazio Clclismo club, by all means....And if you've not seen the film, please do so---it's a classic. Among the footage are some great shots of a massive open-air cycle jumble with sellers fiddling around with bike parts. Lots of neat city bikes, too.
Buon divertimento!
Peter JourdainWhitewater, Wisconsin USA
http://www.bicyclingbackwards.com
"For here is entertainment in excelsis, the sight, the sound and the scent of things....Why cycling for joy is not the most popular passtime on earth is still a mystery to me." ---Frank J. Urry, "SALUTE TO CYCLING"