Originally Posted by
unworthy1
Well it's very impressive, but he had to be Somebody to use those world champ stripes, and you're right, there are very few frame-builders anywhere in Southern Italy. The only one I've heard of is the "other De Rosa", who I think is Calabrian (but you folks who own one can correct me). I think you should dunk it in oxalic acid and keep everything original.
Edit: In case anybody's tracking this trivia,
"De Rosa bikes that are made in Pozzuoli (NA). The Fabbrica Biciclette De Rosa was founded in 1940 by Raffaele De Rosa." Pozzuoli is in Naples which is Campania, not Calabria. Angel Garcia says there's one other known builder down there, Luigi Greco. I think a quality builder (like this Bonanno obviously is) must be even more rare in Sicily.
Of course, there were many smaller builders throughout Italy, some of whom did very nice work and never became known outside of a relatively small radius surrounding their shops. The better-known ones tend to be in the more industrial north of Italy, where availability of materials, higher general incomes, easier exchange of ideas, proximity to the rest of Europe, etc., contributed to some clusters of high-quality builders typical of Italian production, which often revolves around regional zones.
Of course, maybe Bonanno was more widely known than we realize, but the research thus far doesn't seem to bear that out. In any case, it appears to be a very nice, handmade Italian racing bike. I recently bought a no-name example because of the overall workmanship and character, and that bike has plenty of character as well, IMO. Thanks for sharing it. Makes me anxious to receive mine, which is on its way from Italy now ...