The exhibition “Eddy Merckx: Eighty Years of a Legend” will be inaugurated on May 3, 2025, at 11:30 a.m., under the prestigious patronage of the UEC. Curated by architect Carola Gentilini, Director of the Madonna del Ghisallo Cycling Museum, the exhibition is dedicated to celebrating the 80th birthday of the greatest champion of all time. Through objects, images, videos, and personal accounts, the exhibition recounts his glorious victories and the impact he had on cycling and global sport.
The initiative is organized by the Foundation in collaboration with Faema, now part of the Cimbali Group. MUMAC, the corporate museum of the group, has been supporting the Ghisallo Cycling Museum for ten years, in a shared journey of history and passion. The exhibition is a collective tribute to the great Eddy Merckx, with the participation of many friends led by the Molteni Foundation!
Featuring written and audio contributions from renowned cycling experts and historians such as Pier Bergonzi, Franco Bortuzzo, Cosimo Cito, Beppe Conti, Maurizio Crosetti, Andrea De Luca, Claudio Gregori, Gianfranco Josti, Sergio Meda, Gian Paolo Ormezzano, Marco Pastonesi, and Luciana Rota, the exhibition is an immersive journey into the victorious legacy of the Belgian champion — a true number one, whose name evokes comparisons that border on the mythical.
The exhibition is also made possible thanks to the collaboration with Faema, the historic Milan-based brand known for producing espresso coffee machines, and a key player in the world of the “Italian bar” for the past 80 years. Faema is also deeply connected to the world of cycling, having sponsored a team that won numerous national and international cycling competitions. Today, this iconic brand is part of the Cimbali Group, an Italian company that, through MUMAC—its corporate museum—has supported the initiatives of the Ghisallo Cycling Museum for the past ten years. The strong bond between the two museums is rooted in the shared storytelling of Faema’s rich heritage.
It’s with great emotion and renewed efforts by the Museum’s Foundation that we inaugurate this retrospective dedicated to a true Champion—with a capital “C”—who is also a great Friend—with a capital “F”—of the Ghisallo Cycling Museum. We celebrate his 80th birthday in this special way, as we look forward to welcoming him to the exhibition in June, whenever he wishes and is able to visit. Our bond with him is made even stronger by his deep personal and sporting friendship with Marino Vigna, Olympic cycling champion, who has always been present—not only as a member of the Foundation’s board, but also as a passionate supporter of the museum. ” said the Museum President, Antonio Molteni.
“The bond between our brand Faema and the world of cycling is a historic one, closely tied as well to Eddy Merckx, who is considered the greatest cyclist of all time,” commented Cavaliere Maurizio Cimbali, President of the Cimbali Group.His legendary achievements marked an era and served as an inspiration for Faema to continue sponsoring sporting events that, over the years, have contributed to the company’s success. Passion, courage, and determination are values we believed in then—as we do now—and they continue to guide our work every single day ”.
The exhibition will showcase memorabilia, previously unseen documents, jerseys, and bicycles used by “The Cannibal” throughout his entire career. A special section will feature a selection of Faema photo panels from the widespread exhibition “Faema 80×80,” which celebrates both the 80th anniversary of the brand and that of the champion (born in 1945). These panels revisit key moments in the collaboration between Merckx, Faema, and cycling, with images capturing Eddy Merckx’s legendary performances as the all-conquering star of the red-and-white team from 1968 to 1970. The team was managed by general manager Fiorenzo Magni—founder of the Ghisallo Museum—alongside Vincenzo Giacotto and sports director Marino Vigna. In just three seasons, Merckx claimed over 120 victories (out of an astonishing total of 525), a record that cements his status as the most successful cyclist in history.
Throughout his career, Merckx won five Tours de France and five Giro d’Italia titles, achieving the double in the same season three times. He also claimed seven Milano-Sanremo victories, five Liège-Bastogne-Liège titles, three World Championships (plus a fourth as an amateur), three Paris-Roubaix wins, the Vuelta a España, the Tour of Switzerland, the Hour Record, 34 stages in the Tour de France, and 25 stages in the Giro d’Italia!
In addition to the aforementioned photo panels, MUMAC will also provide several issues of the Caffè Club magazine—produced by FAEMA in the late 1960s and early 1970s—which offer a true snapshot of the social landscape of the era revolving around the coffee cup, perhaps even while witnessing the feats of the Cannibal. Among these, one particular issue stands out for its uniqueness: on the cover is the face of Eddy Merckx, captured in 2006 by photographer Maurizio Galimberti using his iconic “ready made” Polaroid technique, during a collaboration with Faema. This special tribute makes this piece a one-of-a-kind item, filled with symbolic and emotional significance.
Unseen images of the champion within the company walls, in an unprecedented role, as well as a series of amusing illustrations by renowned humorist and illustrator Marino Guarguaglino (known as “Marino”), who gained great fame for his cartoons published in Guerin Sportivo about the prominent Italian sports figures of the 1960s, will be featured. These illustrations were published in several issues of Caffè Club. Finally, an iconic coffee machine from that era, the first series Faema E61, will complete the exhibition.
“After the exhibition dedicated to the 2024 Tour de France, which was a great collective success, also thanks to the participation of international collectors and museums, we return to focus our hearts and historical attention on the man—not just anyone, but the great Eddy Merckx. This is in line with our mission of historical research and the promotion of memory for all, in the house of every cyclist. This work is once again exciting due to the sensitivity of a world built on passion and respect for the feats of its champions. Eddy Merckx deserves a museum dedicated to him, one that goes beyond the images of his 525 victories and the countless bicycles built for him, because he is a symbol of both winning cycling and the human side of the sport, which nourishes the collective sporting memory with memories. ” As stated by Carola Gentilini, Director of the Ghisallo Museum.
“We are very honored to have contributed to the creation of an exhibition for the great champion Eddy Merckx, who shares not only a passion for cycling with our brand Faema but also the same birth year,” comments Barbara Foglia, Director of MUMAC. “This initiative is also an opportunity for us to celebrate a ten-year partnership with the Madonna del Ghisallo Cycling Museum, which draws a line of continuity between cycling and Faema, a historic brand of the Group, and fosters a connection between museums dedicated to spreading the culture of Italian cycling and coffee.”
The strong connection between Cimbali Group and the world of cycling originates from the glorious history of FAEMA, one of the Group’s main historic brands. In fact, since the 1950s, Faema has linked its name to the world of cycling by embarking on one of the first sports sponsorships, giving rise to a legendary partnership that has remained etched in the memory of more than one generation thanks to the successes and feats of champions like Rik Van Looy, Hugo Koblet, Charly Gaul, Gianni Motta, and later, in the late 1960s, Eddy Merckx, Vittorio Adorni, Italo Zilioli, Victor Van Schil, and Guido Reybrouck, just to name a few. The brand’s direct link to cycling has been revived in the past three seasons, with an important sponsorship of the Giro d’Italia, supported from 2022 to 2024.
