La Repubblica, one of Italy's leading newspapers, has picked up on ECF member FIAB’s campaign for contraflow cycling. As FIAB gets louder in voicing the needs of cyclists, Italy finds itself on track for being a bike friendly country.

The following is an English-language summary, you can read the full story in Italian here.

For many years the Italian cycling federation FIAB has supported contraflow cycling. It has been already successfully applied in several Italian cities. The Italian Ministry of Transport, however, still blocks a generalized diffusion of contraflow cycling lanes so far, saying it considers them "dangerous" and not compatible with traffic laws.

The topic is even making headlines. In La Repubblica, the Florentine journalist Ilaria Ciuti, a cyclist herself, recently carried the theme into the limelight. Ciuti calls for a new course in the Ministry of Transport, which should lead to full acceptance of contraflow cycling, which she says is especially important in the historic centers of Italian cities.

The topic is very timely for several reasons. The first is that cycling is increasingly popular in Italian cities, where users are often forced to adopt contraflow cycling in a  "do- it-yourself" fashion due to lack of cycling infrastructure. The second reason is that Italian municipalities, the Ministry of Transport and FIAB  are currently negotiating the revision of many cycling rules.

The President of ACI (the Italian Car Driver Association) also joined the debate, but with a curious argument. He stated that Italian drivers are more “distracted" than their European counterparts, which would make contraflow cycling inapplicable in Italy, as opposed to all other European countries. 

That Italian car drivers think of themselves they are dangerous to other road users does not stop FIAB from promoting contraflow cycling. Quite the opposite is true: the association is holding a conference on 'Cycling in Europe: How to Make a Country Bike Friendly' (in Rome on February 14). The aim of the conference, ambitious for sure, is to draft a law on more bike friendly rules of the road - and contraflow cycling - to be presented to the Parliament in spring.

With all this activity and movement, including proposals and initiatives, it is no wonder FIAB keeps making front page news.

 About the Editor

Zoé Kruchten is a Communications Assistant at the European Cyclists’ Federation. She has a BA in International Relations and has worked in the past as a bike mechanic.