Roberto Dalla Pellegrina and the journey of Pedalabile on the road to inclusion.
Volti Franciacortini
The encounter.
From the 20th to the 26th of October I spent my last week of holidays of the year. I had planned a couple of rides and in the days prior, I contacted Roberto Dalla Pellegrina to arrange a meeting.
He and his son Riccardo, are the originators of the Road, a project that promotes the bicycle as an instrument of inclusion and social participation.
Of them I had heard of and I had crossed some time on the streets of Franciacorta. I had also hit the colored writing on the old gate rail next to the station in Passirano, now the headquarters of the association. It is precisely there that we met, Thursday, October 23, for a chat simple, intense, that has lit up a week marked by bad weather.
The meetings for the book “Volti Franciacortini” are a bit like the rides: every meeting is a round, each person is an area that I think I know, but that always manages to surprise me. For each word, as to every pedal stroke, I discover something new, which feeds my passion and desire to continue to ride.
As always, I started by asking the passion, because, I believe, is the true driving force of all human activity. From there is born a story that I have followed with great interest and carry-in his most significant passages.
Meeting date: Thursday, October 23, 2025
The origins of the passion.
"I started riding a bicycle for exercise. I was practicing middle distance running and mountain running, but the bike allowed me to do the legs and breath lightening the load on the joints. Then the passion has turned into something bigger when it came to Riccardo."
Riccardo, the second of the three children, disabled, and shares always been with the father's love for the two wheels. When he grew up and was no longer able to use the tricycle or towing, Roberto has wanted to find a way to continue to ride together. After over a year of research, he found a tandem special, where the person with a disability sit in front of and can live on the streets in the first person, while the person driving behind them.
"Is the opposite of the tandem classic: who is in front riding in a horizontal, feel the wind on your face and watch the world from the protagonist."
Find the half was not simple: manufactured in Germany and distributed in France, had high costs. But after having tried it out thanks to an association of vicenza, Roberto and Richard have immediately understood that it was the right one. Roberto and his wife decided to give it to Riccardo for his eighteenth birthday, on February 14, 2020, with the idea to inaugurate with a trip. A few days later, however, the lockdown has stuck all throughout.
"We never gave in: I would practice on the reels him on the elliptical. I said to him: "as soon as you can, we will"."
And so it was: the 27 June 2020, a father and son journeyed from Passirano to reach Rome along the Via Francigena. A journey of more than 700 km, accompanied by two friends, which marked the birth of "Pedalabile".
That journey has made you understand both that the tandem could become a tool for the inclusion of the extraordinary.
"In tandem discover really the other. Need trust, listening and synchrony. If one puts more force, the other gives you the emotional drive that makes you reach the top."
From that experience came the idea of turning Pedalabile in an association that is able to put at the disposal of all what for them it was difficult to find: the special vehicles that allow you to ride along with.
The aim is to avoid other families, the long and complex research approached by robert and Riccardo, and, at the same time, spreading the benefits to physical, emotional, and relational pedaling as a tool of inclusion and well-being.
To make the plan more concrete, Roberto has followed a technical course to become a qualified guide, and today helps families and people with disabilities to live the experience of pedaling shared.
"The ride on a tandem is a relationship: it combines the body and mind. At the end of the stage you are tired physically, but especially mentally, because you have shared a lot more of an effort."
During the interview, Roberto tells us that the results of the physical activity surprise the families involved, and often also their.
"This summer, we worked with a young psychologist who would like to study the therapeutic effect of the ride in tandem. Follow two or three guys for a few months and assess the improvements in physical and emotional. It would be a pioneering research: a way to demonstrate that the bicycle can be a form of natural therapy."
And this is the border between sport and wellness that Road continues to grow.
From the Pedalabile to the Insuperabile
In 2021, the association has joined forces with the Pink Running Team and If you Want you Can give life to the project, the best: a great relay inclusive across Italy joining walk and bike.
The witness, an arrow wood engraved with the hills of the Franciacorta area, passes each year, from hand to hand among walkers and cyclists. In five editions, it has touched the Via Francigena, the Camino of st. Francis and the Path of the Oil, and, coming up to Brindisi.
"Every trip is a shared challenge. It is not important who pushes more: has to get there together."
Paninabile and the conviviality of the inclusion
From the desire to extend the inclusion also out of the saddle is born Paninabile, a project that combines conviviality and team work.
During the summer, in the headquarters of the association in Passirano, takes on a life and a beer in the open air: hamburger, bread, and salamis, music and smiles. Children with disabilities manage the service at the tables side-by-side from the volunteers.
"The experience is transformed into a small project to life: after the shift, the guys are sleeping in the seat, learning to manage and live the everyday life of the "after work".
With revenues of Paninabile, the association purchased a tandem-kiosk of street food, then entrusted to the cooperative, La Nuova Cordata of Iseo.
The kiosk, mobile and affordable, you can reach events and locations, bringing with him sandwiches, drinks, and inclusion."
An original way to keep the bike as a thread, even when it descends from the saddle.
Road Bistro
In the last few months, to give continuity to the project over the summer, was born Affordable Bistro: a small restaurant that is active during a lunch break at the Bar, Sunny corso Magenta in Brescia.
Dal 3 novembre, i ragazzi dell’associazione offrono pranzi semplici e genuini, affiancati da educatori e volontari. L’iniziativa offrirà un’esperienza lavorativa reale, con un compenso simbolico destinato a finanziare le loro passioni — prima fra tutte, la bicicletta.
Franciacorta: an open-air gym
Speaking of territory, Roberto says with enthusiasm, his choice to live in Franciacorta.
A native of Brescia, was moved in Passirano in 2005, attracted by the nature of the place: hills, woods, and secondary roads, perfect for a workout.
"Franciacorta is ideal for those who love the sport: if you want to go, go to Polaveno; if you are looking for gentle paths, down towards the lake Iseo, and through the Torbiere del Sebino. It was one of my laps favorite: spent from Monterotondo and I was immersed in the heart of the bog, a unique landscape. Sin that that trait today is closed, but it remains one of the most beautiful places that I know of."
For Roberto, the Franciacorta region is not only home: it is a natural laboratory of movement and freedom, where every ride becomes a meeting, discovery, and gratitude.
From their first ride to Rome to today, Roberto and Riccardo’s journey has never stopped.
Pedalabile has become a symbol of how the bicycle can bring people together, turning disability into an opportunity for connection and effort into hope.
Pedalabile è diventato un simbolo di come la bicicletta possa unire, trasformando la disabilità in occasione di condivisione e la fatica in speranza.
Claudio Pelucco
Founder of Franciacortino
I explore Franciacorta by bike, pedaling slowly through stories, roads, and details.
