Genoa – Come back next Friday the Sports Festival. 100 disciplines, 140 events, 4 stages: the Porto Antico area of Genoa will be transformed into the most colorful and dynamic sports village in Liguria, a stone’s throw from the historic center and overlooking the sea. The formula will be the same as always, tested and successful: “Choose, try and have fun!”. Organized by Porto Antico di Genova and Stelle nella Sport, with the patronage of the Liguria Region, the Municipality of Genoa, Sport and Health, Coni Liguria and the Carige Foundation, the Festival is organized as always in collaboration with Uisp, the Agorà Social Consortium and over 200 federations and sports associations. All areas of the Old Port, from Calata Falcone Borsellino and Piazza Caricamento to Piazzale Mandraccio, from the Porta Siberia area up to Calata Gadda, passing through the Magazzini del Cotone (in the external areas and inside the modules) will host 100 different sports disciplines, with free trials and available completely free of charge.
With the Sports Passport in hand, fun tool that will allow you to collect stamps for each sporting activity performed, children and teenagers will be able to go anywhere to discover their favorite activities. Qualified instructors will be available to ensure maximum safety in carrying out the activities. Between one sport and another, discovering the pleasure of sharing and running to win the Certificate of Participation and the various gadgets that are always very coveted, all sportsmen, regardless of age and ability, will have the opportunity to spend three days in the name of light-heartedness by discovering the value of sport and its fundamental principles.
An absolute novelty for the Festival is the initiative of the “Liguria” Army Military Command which will set up a path in Piazza Caricamento military fitness where visitors can try their hand at dynamic and aerobic exercises with backpacks under the watchful eyes of the instructors of the 186th Parachute Regiment “Folgore” of Siena. The circuit consists of a series of vertical and horizontal obstacles, within a course characterized by increasing difficulties that recall tactical/operational training, to be overcome while moving, combining speed and agility.
“The Festa dello Sport has rightfully become one of the essential events in Genoa – underlines the president of Porto Antico di Genova Mauro Ferrando – There are nineteen editions of continuous growth, the numbers for 2023 are record-breaking, with 100 sports and 200 federations and associations involved. What we offer is truly a unique and extraordinary event, in the most authentic Decoubertian spirit. The Sports Festival represents this year the prologue of a great event which projects our city into the international sports scenario “The Ocean Race – The Grand Finale” and a taste of the spirit that will permeate Genoa in 2024 when the Ligurian capital will be the European Capital of Sport.”
The preview of the Festival will be the Gala delle Stelle, the traditional “Night of the Oscars of Ligurian sport” which will be held on Thursday evening in the magnificent setting of the Sala Grecale at the Magazzini del Cotone (free admission with reservations required at [email protected]). On Friday, as per tradition, it will be school day: at 9:15 am official inauguration on the stage in piazzale Mandraccio and then “on the run” with the 20th edition of the Baby Marathon. The Schools Olympics will be staged in Piazza delle Feste with a multi-sports course promoted by Stelle dello Sport and Coni Liguria. Also on the schedule is the Palio rowing for schools organized by Ficsf and student games in football, volleyball, basketball, table tennis, athletics, archery and rowing.
Appointment confirmed, Saturday afternoon at 14:00 with the Gymnastics Festival in Piazza delle Feste, followed at 16:30 by Auxilium day while the Magical Night of the Stars returns in the evening, with spectacular performances of Fids dance sport and Gymnastics Andrea Doria and the engaging music of Buio Pesto. Sunday starting at 9:30 the spotlights will be on Il Miglio Blu, a competitive foot race of 1.609 km around the Magazzini del Cotone, organized by Team 42195 which will be followed by the Minimiglio, the version of the race dedicated to little runners organized by UISP, with a reduced route suitable for child, in a triumph of enthusiasm of the little ones and their supporters. Sunday still full of events with Piazza delle Feste invaded by young skaters and dancers.
There will be numerous sports “stars” who will participate in the Festival. Two icons of Italian sport such as Silvia Salis and Salvatore Sanzo, the fencing champion Pietro Torre and the gymnastics talents Riccardo Villa and Caterina Gaddi will parade from the stage of the gala to the opening stage. On Saturday at 11:00 the winners of the “Il Bello dello Sport” school competition will be awarded by three champions of the caliber of Francesco Bocciardo (Paralympic swimming), Matteo Giupponi (European bronze in race walking) and Matteo Sericano (sailing). On the tennis court Alessandro Ceppellini, bearer of Park Tennis Genova, will play while the young players will be able to challenge the champion Giacomo Galanda under the basket. On Sunday, Gian Filippo Mirabile (paralympic rowing champion) and Christian Puggioni (former Sampdoria goalkeeper) will take to the field. New to this edition is also the “Torneo di Calcio Gabbia” promoted by Operation Nostalgia with the presence of two Rossoblucerchiate Legends on Saturday at the Decathlon fields.
Thanks to the collaboration of Ecopneus, this year UISP will set up a basketball court in Calata Gadda and a 60-metre athletic track outside the Magazzini del Cotone, made with materials obtained from the recycling of used tyres, on which activities will alternate, tournaments and training for everyone. The activity organized for Sunday at 2.30 pm by Amiu is also on the theme of sustainability: a plogging competition, an eco-friendly discipline which consists in collecting waste found on one’s path while jogging in the open air.
Year after year, the Sports Festival is also increasingly passionate about adults, who from simple companions of the little ones have now also become protagonists of some sectors reserved for them: among others, there will be fitness lessons for everyone on the Palco Fitness in Calata Falcone Borsellino, while the perfect oasis of the Isola delle Chiatte will be entirely dedicated to holistic disciplines.
But the Sports Festival also means… shows for everyone! In addition to the various sports activities, on the four stages that are always active (Palco Mandraccio, Piazza delle Feste, Palco Fitness and Palco Holistico on the Isola delle Chiatte) there will be continuous rotation of sports exhibitions, lessons, demonstrations, presentations, awards, for a non-stop of events organized by sports clubs, federations, gyms, dance schools.
Sports Festival will also be the perfect showcase of the many realities who deal with sports and training, aimed at the youngest and not only: the progressive approach to the highly anticipated “Grand Finale” of the international sailing regatta The Ocean Race will continue, with a splendid area dedicated to sailing promoted by the Primazona Fiv, yes will talk about Genoa European Capital of Sport 2024 with an appointment on Sunday at 12:30 on the Palco al Mandraccio. The Orientamenti project will be present, always at the forefront when it comes to young people and their growth.
And, as usual, the Fest will not forget solidarity and concern for others, offering concrete help to the Gigi Ghirotti Foundation. The volunteers led by Prof. Henriquet will raise funds thanks to the Star Lottery, among all the participants in the Sports Festival there will be the lucky winner of an MSC cruise for two. An increasingly inclusive celebration thanks to the many entities involved in the SportAbility project: from the Special Olympics Young Athletes Program (YAP) with activities aimed at children with and without disabilities under the banner of inclusion and integration (Friday morning), to Jet Ski Therapy with the seven times world champion Fabio Incorvaia (Saturday all day). On the soccer field set up by the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti Liguria there will be two integrated soccer tournaments (Saturday and Sunday morning) and as always the champions of Bic Genova and Insuperabili will be protagonists on stage and on the pitches.
“Even this year thanks to such a prestigious event that is now rooted in the area we will be able to celebrate sport in all its forms and declinations, emphasizing its extraordinary educational, social and cultural value”, comments the councilor for sport of the Liguria Region Simona Ferro. “The Sports Festival is also a unique moment for thousands of children and teenagers who can choose in complete freedom the disciplines in which to try their hand for a day or perhaps for a lifetime. I would like to underline that the realization of an event with similar numbers and spaces would not be possible without an exceptional teamwork between Porto Antico di Genova Spa, Stelle Nello Sport and all the entities, institutions, companies and partners involved”.
“It will be an extraordinary party as always” – highlights Alessandra Bianchi, councilor for sport and tourism of the Municipality of Genoa – “An event that we await with trepidation and which grows more and more year after year. A party that involves many young people and is a precious promotion of sport and its values. Congratulations to Porto Antico and Stelle nella Sport for this extraordinary team effort which allows to enhance the activity of organizations and federations and is at the service of other important initiatives such as The Ocean Race and Genoa 2024. We will experience the departure from Newport of the legendary regatta which goes around the world on Sunday evening in the heart of the Festa dello Sport and, also on Sunday at 12:30, we will also experience a moment of in-depth analysis with many sportsmen and champions to start the countdown towards 2024, the year in which Genoa will be European capital of sport”.
The Sports Festival will be open to all the public, with free admission, on Friday 19 May from 09.00 to 19.00, Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 May from 10.00 to 19.00. Insights and information on www.portoantico.it And www.stellenellosport.com
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