On 17 May 1952, the 35th edition of the Giro d'Italia started with the Milan-Bologna stage. It is difficult to judge from this 8mm film shot that day by Enrico Bagni along the Via Emilia whether the filmmaker was more interested in filming the incredible carousel of motorised advertising vehicles, offering a spectacle within a spectacle, or the king of champions, Fausto Coppi who would go on to win this Giro in what was perhaps his most triumphant cycling season. Certainly Bagni is not afraid to waste film by filming the outline and this makes his film a very interesting portrait of the carnival around the Giro, a media and publicity event of exceptional importance in Italy at the time. Although Gino Bartali is no longer the rival of a few years earlier and will only finish fifth in the final classification, the rivals are fierce. But the king is the king and when he passes, Bagni's camera is as if magnetically attracted by the elegant gait of Fausto Coppi riding his Bianchi bicycle in the middle of the peloton. The film's appendix: a running race and jokes between friends in Reggio Emilia. A worthy finale to a magnificent film. We do not know who will win the foot race, while the first stage of the Giro d'Italia is won by Giorgio Albani, another important figure in national cycling.