Cycling takes Milan by storm: the Bike Hub, a platform for cycling tourism
The Milan, Monza, Brianza and Lodi Chamber of Commerce is bringing the Bikeconomya project to a close with the creation of an integrated cycle tourism district that combines services, expertise, history and culture. With accommodation, restaurants and bike repair shops, some 80 businesses are taking part in the initiative centred on cycling.
Key points
There’s the hotel just a stone’s throw from the centre of Milan, which offers a specialist workshop and a ‘champion’s’ breakfast, and the historic residence on the banks of the River Adda, which offers e-bike hire. There are long-established bicycle retailers, who not only offer expertise, passion and maintenance services but also organise guided tours of the city, and trattorias along the Navigli and near the rice fields of Lombardy serving dishes steeped in history. There’s a tandem hire service – the two-person bike that turns exertion into an opportunity for connection – and a multi-purpose cultural centre housed in an early 20th-century farmhouse in the Lodi area, bringing together music, culture and cuisine, along with a luggage service that takes your bags to your evening destination. There’s the tavern that doubles as an olive oil mill near the River Ticino, and the café where you can have a coffee and chat about bicycles – and even get them repaired.
There are now around eighty operators – though this number is growing by the day – taking part in the Gran Milano Bike Hub platform, an initiative by the Milan, Monza, Brianza and Lodi Chamber of Commerce that aims to lay the foundations for a shared cycle tourism district, built day by day in collaboration with local businesses and professionals.
An economy without borders
It may seem strange, but even in Milan and the surrounding area, we can talk about cycle tourism. “The system was already in place, but the pieces needed to be linked together to create a complete ecosystem that integrated facilities and services, drawing on the skills and human capital we have been developing for years through a training programme tailored to the needs of industry professionals,” explains Alessandra Lupis, head of regional marketing at the Chamber of Commerce.
This is how the project that gave rise to Gran Milano Bike Hub came about; it was presented at the opening of the International Bike Festival in Misano and takes the form of a dedicated portal showcasing routes – both long-distance and circular – points of interest, accommodation and catering facilities, and specialist cycling service providers in an area that links Brianza and Monza with the Lodigiano region, passing through Milan.
In fact, cycling knows no boundaries, and the cycling economy is also capable of diversifying, influencing various sectors with the aim of raising awareness of cities and local areas through sustainability and ‘slow mobility’, accessible to all. Thus, the project for the fourth officially registered bike hub in Italia – the first to involve a major city – aims to take cycling beyond Milan, where the expansion of the cycle path network, with the aim of reaching 350 kilometres by early 2027, is driving the adoption of cycling as a means of simplifying travel and reducing the impact of pollution.
