As every year for now 106 editions, the Giro d'Italia has kicked off, a sporting event that brings entire generations together. From May 6 to 28, 2023, over 21 stages, cyclists will cover more than 3,400 km, from Fossacesia to the finish in Rome.

Cycling is part of our country's culture, but even simply using a bicycle is part of the imagery of being Italian… if you think of the Ministry of Tourism's latest campaign, "Open to meraviglia," even Botticelli's Venus was brought in and put on a bicycle!

So we too want to celebrate the culture of cycling and bicycles in all its aspects with our exceptional cyclist, Don Matteo. The protagonist of the famous and successful Rai TV series, who helps authorities solve criminal cases while pedaling his iconic black bicycle through the streets of small villages in central Italy.

In the article "Videogames and TV series" we told you that we created several video games inspired by TV series or real advergames tied to a series launch or anniversary, as in the case of the video game "Don Matteo - Special Edition."

Let's talk about the protagonist, his bicycle, and how our advergames contain so much of the imagery tied to our country's culture, just as in the TV series.

"Don Matteo - Special Edition" and "Don Matteo vs Suor Angela"

The video game "Don Matteo - Special Edition" was created to support the communication campaign of the Rai TV series. For the occasion, an offline version of the video game was developed, to play during the event dedicated to the 20th birthday anniversary.

To play the video game, the player can choose which character to play as: Don Matteo riding his bicycle or the Carabinieri in their car.

The route the player must face is full of obstacles to jump over and points to collect. At the end of each game, the player can see how many km they traveled and how many points they earned.

If in "Don Matteo - Special Edition" all the attention was focused on the protagonist and his bicycle, in the next video game "Don Matteo vs Suor Angela" we focused not only on the characters but also on the backgrounds, with references to the architecture and colors that distinguish the villages of central Italy.

The attention to the design and aesthetics of our video games is extremely high; we like to take care of the smallest detail in every video game.

Attention to detail allows the video game to integrate into the storytelling of the entire project, just as happened for both video games featuring Don Matteo.

At this point, do you feel like hopping on a bicycle and pedaling?

There is another date to mark on your calendar regarding bicycles: June 3 is World Bicycle Day, don't miss the chance to go for a ride!