Cycling advocacy efforts in Italy seem to have paid off.  A legilative amendment introducing insurance for employees using a bike to commute to work has been approved by the Italian senate and the deputies are expected to pass the bill making it into an act.  These first important steps are a result of the assiduous campaiging of ECF's national member FIAB that started the campaign already in 2010 with a public petition.

Currently insurance coverage for cycling accidents which happen on one's way to or from work  have strict conditions that need to be fulfilled in order for the injured commuter to receive compensation. The injured needs to, for example, prove the absence or inadequacy of public transport and the impracticability to do the journey by foot and event then only accidents that occure in bike lanes or areas closed from traffic qualify for the compensation.

The amendment, presented by deputy Diego Zardini and 30 other colleagues, will remove such restriction: workers will be covered by insurance regardless the mode of transport they use.

The second good news coming from Italy is that the Transport Commission of the Chamber of Deputies has started discussions on the development of cycling mobility in Italy and the realization  of the “Bicitalia” -project.

Bicitalia is a national network of cycling routes coordinated by FIAB. The bill was first presented in a public meeting in February 2014 and it was tabled in Parliament in April the same year. After more than one year since its initial presentation, the parliamentary process on the bill finally began in May 2015.

The bill legitimizes the role of Bicitalia as the official national network of cycling routes. Bicitalia currently consists of over 18.000 kms of cycling routes that connect different areas across reagions and even countries. FIAB first identified the network's infrastructure in its initial feasibility study commissioned by the Ministry of Environment in 2002. Bicitalia is also part of the EuroVelo network and it aims to stimulate sustainable tourism and mobility within and between Italian cities. In addition to the drafting of a General Mobility Plan for cycling, the bill also involves the Ministry of Transport through the establishment of a special Department for Cycling Mobility. It seems that Italy is moving in the right direction, one concrete step at a time!