The new book dedicated to the legend of the most historical Italian ski classic, published by Giunti, is the result of the research of Paolo Luconi Bisti, photographer and historian of Madonna, who carried on a family tradition. "I rediscovered so many images, who knows if would have ever found them again without the lockdown..."

Sometimes having a great history is not enough if you miss somebody who falls in love with it, takes care of it and knows how to communicate it. In Madonna di Campiglio, this “somebody” goes under the one and only name, or better, nickname: Bisti. From Giovanni Battista Luconi, the "original" Bisti, who arrived in Madonna di Campiglio from Venice in 1947, to his son Paolo: both photographers, both passionate about history and Madonna di Campiglio, they both ended up writing significant pages of the so called “Pearl of the Dolomites” and its event par excellence, the 3Tre.

Actually, Paolo Bisti has written quite a number of pages: 384 to be accurate, those of "The Great History of 3Tre", the new volume published by Giunti to tell the legend of the first 67 editions of the 3Tre, waiting for 68th, which will be held in a few days, on Wednesday, December 22nd (1st run 17:45, 2nd run 20:45 CET). A volume curated by Paolo Luconi Bisti, who wrote the contents and carefully selected the most significant pieces from the immense Bisti’s photo archive – from both father and son - and also from other photographers who have contributed over the years to tell the story of the most famous slalom in Italy, and whose work is part of the 3Tre archive.

The project began with a dive into an archive that had been waiting too long to be re-explored and rediscovered. "I had been wanting to do that for a long time, I had the idea of reorganizing the archive of these nearly 70 editions, but it was with the lockdown of 2020, while I was home, that I finally managed to start", said Paolo Bisti. "Here I found material that I didn't remember or even know about. Such a vast and fascinating treasure was worthy to be enhanced: that's how the idea of the book was born."

"When I shared the project with the 3Tre Committee and to President Lorenzo Conci, showing them the many unpublished images that had come up from the research, I immediately felt their enthusiasm. The opportunity to work with an important publisher like Giunti will also allow the history of 3Tre to travel and to be distributed in book shops in Italy and all over the world, being available in English as well, online and offline. Something similar to a 3Tre on Tour, but 365 days a year."

The Bisti archive is a significant historical resource: there are more than 50,000 negatives of the 3Tre images alone, taken by Paolo and his father Giovanni Battista, long-time photoreporter of the Gazzettino, who opened his studio-workshop in Val Rendena in 1947. "As soon as he arrived in Campiglio after the Second World War, my father began to document the life of the village - Paolo Bisti explained -. Back then, the market for sports photography had different logics, my father would shoot the pictures of the 3Tre and then the champions would come to the studio, look at the negatives and buy them. I have memories of Gustav Thoeni in our shop, even though I was very little at the time."

Thanks to the passion of the Bisti family, however, this priceless heritage is still alive. "The Great History of 3Tre" is therefore an authentic insight into the path not only of the Campiglio's Classic, but also of the territory to which it is firmly linked. "The 3Tre represents the most exciting and magnificent chapter in the history of Madonna di Campiglio - explained the author -. In our young community, 3Tre, with its 70 years of history is the oldest tradition of our town, the event of the year for the whole population. The history of the 3Tre is, to all extents, the history of Madonna di Campiglio".

"The Great History of 3Tre" will be available from January 5th in the Giunti bookstores network and in the main book shops, online and offline, and as exclusive preview in Madonna di Campiglio on December 22nd.

For those who wish to live first-hand the next page of this great history, tickets for the World Cup night slalom of December 22nd are now on sale, and can only be purchased online at www.3trecampiglio.it . In order to access the event, it is compulsory to show a COVID Pass obtained exclusively following vaccination or recovery from COVID-19 in the previous six months (Italy’s Super COVID Pass). Children under the age of 12 are exempt from presenting the COVID Pass.