 The creator of the competition was Ezio Radaelli.The name of the festival was a reference to the bicycle race Giro d'Italia, and, as the Giro, Cantagiro was organized as a stage race consisting of eleven or twelve daily stages, each set in a different city.A peculiar characteristic of the festival was that, while traveling between one stage and the other, singers were required to travel in an open car, to be at the disposal of the crowd of fans, otherwise risking fines or disqualification from the competition; accordingly the travel usually resolved into a huge crowd, with fans waiting their idols in every corner of the path.