Bar Augusto 1966
Augusto Gotti (Center) with Edy Schütz (Left), Luxembourg National Champion and winner of the 1966 Tour of Luxembourg,  and an unknown third person pictured in the interior of the famous watering hole.

Augusto was a devoted cycling fan and astute collector of jerseys. Active and retired professional and amateur riders gave the bar hundreds of jerseys, all hung with pride on the walls of the storied bar. The jersey collection read like a venerable who’s who of the cycling world from the 1950s through the 1980s. Coppi, Gimondi, Motta, Merckx, Anquetil, Van Looy, Altig, and hundreds more professional jerseys hung alongside the best of the best Eastern Bloc riders. Given its incredible diversity, depth, and breadth, it would be challenging, if not impossible, to build the same collection today.

With time, Augusto decided to retire, close the bar, and enjoy a more relaxed pace of life in his autumn years. A year or so before Augusto passed away, and with the help of former Polish and US National Team Coach Eddie Borysewicz, we were honored to acquire the Gotti Collection. Augusto’s and our collection combined beautifully, and between the two, there were only two overlapping items: an Eddy Merckx maillot jaune and a Bernard Hinault Renault team jersey. To this day, our collection is what it is thanks in no small measure to a quaint bar and inn tucked into a picturesque valley in Northern Italy.

By Brett Horton, Jan 2021