Giovanni Guareschi(1908-1968)

Best-known as the author of comic stories featuring Italian parish priest Don Camillo, locked in a perpetual struggle with the town's communist mayor. The best filmed versions starred Fernandel and Gino Cervi in the respective roles.

In the valley a bicycle is just as necessary as a pair of shoes, in fact more so. Because even if a man hasn't any shoes he can still ride a bicycle, whereas if he hasn't a bicycle he must surely travel on foot.