Maradona at Napoli 40 years later, the celebration on MSC

In the summer of 1984, Naples and Italian football were positively shaken by an epochal event: after an exhausting negotiation, Naples signed Diego Armando Maradona from Barcelona, ​​who was already considered one of the best footballers in the world. An event destined to change not only the history of football but also the history of the city. The arrival of Diego, in fact, also marked the rebirth of a city that was leaving behind a dark period, with the tragic earthquake of 1980 and a bloodthirsty Camorra. Maradona arrived in Naples in Neapolitan power of Pino Daniele, of the cinema of Massimo Troisi, of the art of Lucio Amelio, of the new dramaturgy of Enzo Moscato and Annibale Raiuto. A social phenomenon that has pushed Naples to the top not only in sport. 40 years later, that extraordinary event will be recalled in a conference, organized by the journalist Marcello Altamura, author of Cronache di Napoli, with MSC Crociere, which will be held tomorrow, 27 June, on board the MSC Divina ship at the Stazione Marittima of Naples. The conference will be divided into two parts. In the first part, space for the transfer of the century told by direct witnesses: Corrado Ferlaino, president of Napoli at the time; Salvatore Carmando, historic Napoli masseur and personal friend of Maradona; Antonio Corbo, journalist, who followed the negotiations as a correspondent for Corriere dello Sport; Franco Esposito, journalist, who followed the negotiations as a correspondent for Il Mattino; Gianfranco Coppola, Rai journalist, president of USSI, Italian Sports Press Union. The panel will reconstruct the complicated negotiation that brought Maradona from Barcelona to Napoli in the summer of 1984. The story will be addressed in its sporting, emotional and economic aspect, also highlighting the effects that Diego’s arrival and then extraordinary passage left on the city. The second part will instead deal with the perspective that, 40 years later, this extraordinary sporting but also social event can still give to the city. We will start from a question: today, like 40 years ago, can sport be a means of growth for the city? Can the affirmation of the city’s sporting realities also give a boost to the social and cultural growth of Naples? The Mayor of Naples, Gaetano Manfredi, the Vice President Southern Europe of MSC Crociere, Leonardo Massa, the mayor of Naples at the time of Maradona’s arrival, Vincenzo Scotti, and the former rector of the Federico II University, Guido, will discuss it. Trumpets.