Riders will take to the start line on June 29 before embarking on a 205-kilometres opening stage which finishes in Rimini.

Stage two then takes a 200km journey from Cesenatico to Bologna the following day before a 225km route is scheduled for July 1 from Piacenza to Turin.

"Exactly a century after Ottavio Bottecchia became the first cyclist from Italy to win the Tour, the peloton will go from the birthplace of Gino Bartali, to that of Marco Pantani before paying tribute to Fausto Coppi," Tour de France race director Christian Prudhomme told TG Sport.

"The Tour has started from all the countries bordering France.

"It has even started six times from the Netherlands, which has no common border with France.

"But it has never started from Italy.

"It's an incongruity that will disappear.

"There is an obvious link with the legend of Italian cycling and its champions."

Another uncommon feature of the 2024 edition is that the finish is in Nice rather than the traditional ending at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

It has been done as the French capital is due to host the 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, just five days after the Tour's scheduled finish date.

Though Italy has hosted numerous Tour stages over the years, firstly in 1948 and most recently in 2011, it has never staged the Tour Grand Départ.

"The chapter set to begin in 2024 with the first Italian Grand Départ is an addition written in golden letters to a long-running epic filled with heroics, twists of fate, auspicious race incidents and anecdotes etched in the minds of cycling lovers and fans of every generation," read a Tour de France statement.