Sidi America is a small Saturday-morning ride’s worth of American bike industry professionals.

We like riding bikes. Road, dirt, tri—we like ‘em all. And we liked them on Sidi shoes long before we came to work here. (Heck, our president, Al, was racing on Sidis before Alberto Contador was born.)

But the real Sidi story’s not about us. It’s about one very remarkable man, Maestro Dino Signori, and his equally remarkable family. The Signoris and staff live and work in the tiny village of Maser, adjacent to the historic Bassano de Grappa* climb, itself one of the historic gateways to the Italian Alps. Listen and learn well, young gregari.

A competitive cyclist from the age of fifteen, a young Dino Signori founded SIDI in 1960 (the company takes its name from his initials). In its early days, SIDI was a craftsman’s workshop specializing in mountaineering footwear, but Dino’s passion for two-wheeled sports gradually asserted itself as he introduced a series of technical and fit innovations that span half a century of leadership and collectively define the state of the cycling shoe art.

Now poised on the cusp of its sixth decade, the SIDI tradition continues under the leadership of Maestro Dino. His son Daniele and daughter Rosella conduct much of the company’s day-to-day business with the support of a young, dynamic staff of designers and craftspeople.

The SIDI Factory and Headquarters. Architecturally designed to represent the smooth lines and flowing movement of the nearby Asolo hills which surround their facility in Maser, SIDI’s new Italian factory honors the area where the brand’s fame was born and grew to maturity. Modern and environmentally friendly, the facility hosts the footwear industry’s most technologically advanced onsite machinery for the research, design/planning, production, and marketing of SIDI products.

Sidi is proud to be the last brand of cycling shoes still designed and made entirely on the European continent. Download the SIDI Brand Book (6.6MB .pdf).

Design, Comfort & Innovation. The grueling physical environment of competitive cycling and rapid evolution of bicycle technology mean SIDI’s technical staff are constantly focused on research and development using groundbreaking materials. The SIDI design team works closely with many of the greatest teams and champions across the entire range of cycling disciplines, incorporating their feedback into the the most advanced designs in cycling if not the entire technical sports footwear business. See Sidi's Timeline of Innovation.

Oh, by the way: in addition to cycling shoes, Sidi also makes some of the world’s finest motorcycle boots. But we don’t sell them here. That’s done by our friends at Motonation.

* Featured three times in the in the Giro, and won by Casalini, Merckx, and Vicente Belda in ’68, ’74, and ’82, respectively. See the excellent www.biciveneto.it/climbingmontegra.html to learn more about the legendary Fare il Grappa, and why experienced climbers—and decenders—should best attempt it on June 13th.