Bari celebrates its sporting history through an exhibition in the former municipal treasury hall of the Palazzo di Città
In Bari, from today, Friday 17 May until Wednesday 22 May, an exhibition will be held in the hall of the former municipal treasury of Palazzo di Città, which tells the sporting history of Bari.
Bari celebrates its sporting history through an exhibition in the former municipal treasury hall of the Palazzo di Città
From today, Friday 17 May, until Wednesday 22 May, the hall of the former municipal treasury of the Palazzo di Città will host an exhibition that tells the sporting history of Bari.
The exhibition, which can be visited from 10am to 12pm and from 17pm to 20pm, collects memorabilia, historical jerseys, flags, trophies, vintage photos and other objects that recall some of the most important sporting pages of the city, collected by the association "The Torchbearer".
The exhibition was presented yesterday morning, in the council room of Palazzo Città, during a press conference in which they participated the president of the municipal council, the president of the Permanent Special Commission for Transparency and Strategic Control, the sports manager Pierfrancesco Romanelli, the president of the association "The Torchbearer” Vito Antonacci, provincial delegate of CONI e president of the Puglia Regional Committee of the Italian Gymnastics Federation Lorenzo Cellamare, the president of the National Union of Sports Veterans Gaetano Campione, the president of ANSMes (National Association of Stars, Palms and Golden Collars of Merit of CONI and CIP) Bari Franco De Lucia and other guests.
On the sidelines of the presentation, recognition plaques of the City of Bari were delivered which celebrate the protagonists of some of the most important pages in the sporting history of the city and the area.
The plaques have been dedicated a: Agnese Barbone Simmi, karate teacher; Vittorio Brandi, torchbearer of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games; Francesco Capocasale (in memory), flag of Bari as a footballer and coach; Biagio Catalano (in memory), flag of Bari football club, known as “the Sivori of the South”; Nicoletta Crocitto (in memory), basketball champion, first Apulian player to wear the blue shirt; Peppino Cusmai (to memory), protagonist of the Bari football fans; Francesco Frasca, roller hockey champion, protagonist in the Italian and national championships; Pietro Lombardi (in memory), Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1948 London Games; Michele Piccirillo, world boxing champion for the welterweight category; Paolo Pinto (in memory), open water cross-country swimming champion, protagonist of numerous crossing records; Ciccio Portuguese (to memory), coach and point of reference for the Apulian boxing movement; Ruggero Verroca, multiple world rowing champion in the lightweight doubles; Nicoletta Virgintino, tennis champion, bronze medal at the 1983 Mediterranean Games.
A identification plateFurthermore, it will be delivered in the next few days to Professor Gianni Antonucci, historian of Bari.
"The meaning of this event and this exhibition is to celebrate, by bringing them together in the same place, many sporting memories of our city - Pierfrancesco Romanelli underlined -. It was not easy to select the relics, because there are so many stories to tell. But it was important to do so, because the meaning of building an exhibition is precisely to remember together so many pages and so many protagonists who are often celebrated individually, but who in reality are part of a great collective history, which is the history of Bari. I therefore thank the champions, the institutions, the associations and all the entities that collaborated within this project. On this occasion, with the same spirit that animates this exhibition, I would like to recall an idea that many of us care a lot about, which is to have a real permanent Museum of Sport here in Bari. I believe it is important to relaunch a collective path that must see us all working as a team, for the good of Bari, to arrive at having an important container of this type, which would benefit our entire city. Symbolically, to underline the importance of this idea and this project, we wanted to bring here today with us what could be the Museum mascot, made by Giuseppe Altieri, maestro figulo from Rutigliano: we wanted to call it "Teddy” because it represents the figure of a torchbearer, and because a name international recalls, somewhat jokingly, what in our opinion should be the vocation of the Museum: an international vocation open to the world, just like the soul of our city".
"I am happy that today here with us there are so many champions and champions from our city - he continued Vito Antonacci -. With many of them we worked together to collect photos, shirts, memorabilia and other memories that we hope can inspire many people and make the memory of so many glorious sporting pages that represent so many important pieces of the history of Bari stronger and more solid in all of us. I therefore thank all the institutions and people who collaborated with us to make this project happen, and we look forward to seeing many of you here at Palazzo di Città”.
"I fully share and support the objectives of this exhibition hosted at Palazzo di Città, which will contribute to strengthening the memory of many beautiful sporting achievements linked to Bari - said Lorenzo Cellamare -. It is important to remember them, even more so for the younger generations. In fact, as president of the Puglia Regional Committee of the Italian Gymnastics Federation, I often find myself underlining how the feats of the gymnast from Bari are still too little remembered Francesco Martino, who one hundred years ago, at the 1924 Paris Olympics, won two gold medals, one individually in the rings, the other in the team competition. Making these stories known means increasingly spreading the idea that sport is not just a competitive practice but also an activity for everyone, widespread in the streets and squares of our cities. An objective that must always see us all collaborating together: institutions, companies and associations in the sector".
“We are all custodians of the memory of the exploits of many champions from Bari, and for this reason it is important to carry out initiatives such as the exhibition we are presenting today and build physical places that preserve these very important memories - he added Gaetano Campione -. As the Bari section of the National Union of Sports Veterans, in recent weeks we have created a photographic exhibition, open to the public within the Expolevante exhibition, which with the collected shots intends to celebrate Francesco Martino's feat one hundred years after his triumphs in Paris, with a spirit, therefore, absolutely similar to that which animated the exhibition that will be hosted in these days here at the Palazzo di Città. These are objectives for which it is important to make available one's time and commitment, for the benefit of the entire city".
"Today I am here to represent an association, ANSMes, which was born in Bari and then experienced significant expansion at a national level - concluded Franco De Lucia -. Our goal is to promote sport in every sector of society, from young to old, and in every aspect, educational, cultural and competitive. For this reason, we are happy to support this initiative which celebrates stories of absolute value in Bari sport and which seeks to project positive messages and values from the past into the present and future. Stories that are an example for everyone and that remind us how important it is to preserve the memory and support the commitment of all the entities in the sector in favor of every sporting discipline."
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