It is past 11 a.m. this Thursday, July 20 when the mayor of Bonnesvalyn films himself live on the Facebook page of this village in Aisne. Behind him, a sign indicates the entrance to Rome. “And here we are,” breathes Stéphane Frère, smiling. For ten days he has been tirelessly pedaling on the roads of Italy, under the oppressive heat of this scorching month of July in the south of Europe. Seven hundred and fifty kilometers by bike – “a little more because I got lost”, he laughs with Le Figaro – for the good cause: the mayor wants to collect 70,000 euros in donations to restore the village church.
The church of the village of Bonnesvalyn, lost in the fields between Meaux and Reims, is in poor condition. Recently reopened thanks to work carried out by volunteers from the surrounding area, it needs urgent repairs, especially on the roof of the bell tower. Amount of the works: 700,000 euros, 90% covered by the State, the department and the region. But the remaining sum being still too heavy for the finances of the small town of 216 inhabitants, its mayor decided to embark, on July 11, on this symbolic bicycle journey to connect Nice to the Vatican and to make people talk about its kitty.
On the village’s Facebook page, he shares videos of his adventures. The roads clinging to the cliffs that plunge into the sea, the colorful alleys and their churches, the emblematic Vespas parked on the side of the road… “The Italian coast is super beautiful, marvels Stéphane Frère. Well, there are a lot of climbs, a lot more than I thought anyway.
The city councilor drives in the early morning and in the evening, “in order to avoid the overwhelming heat” of the afternoon. Touched by the initiative, tourists met along the way, such as Nicolas and Pascale in Pisa, participate by donating a few tickets. Or even Simonica, an Italian “worried to see [le] alone under a tree”, who ended up offering 50 euros to the cause of the small village yet so far from home. The bicycle seller in Nice, Arnaud, for his part, offered the bicycle to Stéphane Frère.
“These are recurring needs for small towns: we all have a bell tower, but not the means” to maintain it, recalls the elected official, who hopes to have also highlighted the difficulties of small municipalities. Stéphane Frère claims to have collected 2,500 euros in donations for the church in his village, including a little over 600 euros through the online kitty. Far from the 70,000 euros needed, but the game was worth it, he insists: “Even if it’s only a few thousand euros, that’s already less to find.”
