You may know Savoie for skiing, but this part of the French Alps is now producing wines to match its stunning scenery and top-notch food, says Robin McKie

Gino Bartali was born in Ponte a Ema east of Florence on 18 July 1914. He had a strict Catholic upbringing and would be later known for his piousness (according to one commentator, it was his “pious and religious life that enabled his moral and physical fibre to work like a clock.”)

Part 2: Gino Saves Italy In the period from 1943 onward, Bartali devoted himself to training. He was apparently contacted in Florence as a high-profile figure with known anti-fascist sympathies.