Friday 17 May, until Wednesday 22 May, the room of the former municipal treasury of 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 5pm to 8pm, 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 “Il Tedoforo” association.
The exhibition was presented this morning, in the council room of Palazzo di Città, during a press conference attended by 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 “Il Tedoforo” association Vito Antonacci, the provincial delegate of the CONI and 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 (Association National 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 from the City of Bari were awarded which celebrate the protagonists of some of the most important pages in the sporting history of the city and the territory. The plaques were dedicated to: Agnese Barbone Simmi, karate teacher; Vittorio Brandi, torchbearer of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Pyeongchang 2018 Olympic Winter Games; Francesco Capocasale (to memory), Bari flag as a footballer and coach; Biagio Catalano (to memory), flag of Bari football, defined as “the Sivori of the South”; Nicoletta Crocitto (to 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 (to memory), Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling at the London 1948 games; Michele Piccirillo, world boxing champion for the welterweight category; Paolo Pinto (to 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. Furthermore, a plaque of recognition will be presented in the next few days to Professor Gianni Antonucci, historian of Bari.
