History of the Museum
Sergio Sanvido, born in 1928, citizen of Cesiomaggiore and founder of the museum today is the director of the museum. He dedicated his whole life to cycling: he repaired, refurbished and sold bicycles, and during 3 years, from 1946 to 1949, he was a racer. Twenty years ago he began to collect bicycles with the intention of setting up a museum. The first set-up of the Historical Bicycle Museum, which is dedicated to the famous Venetian racer Toni Bevilacqua (track cycling world champion (pursuit) 1950 and 1951), was opened on June 29th, 1997 at Sergio’s home.
Some years later Sanvido donated his collection to the community of Cesiomaggiore. With the support of the Foundation Cariverona and the regional authorities of Veneto the municipal council found an appropriate room for this valuable collection of bicycles, accessories and souvenirs of the national and international world of cycling. Now 170 bikes of the collection Sanvido are shown at the new Historical Bicycle Museum “Toni Bevilacqua” which is located on the top floor of the elementary school of Cesiomaggiore. On March 31, 2007 the inauguration took place in presence of many well-known personalities of the world of cycling.