In June 2022, Turin’s PalaVela hosted Special Olympics Italia, the largest sports event dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities ever held in our country.
With Giancarlo Amberti, Deputy Director of the Piedmont division of Special Olympics, we discover how sport, as a means of proximity and social inclusiveness, affects the economy of a territory, generating a positive impact on the community.
Interview by Francesco Antonioli.
Watch previous episodes here.
IAAD. presents the sixth edition of the Career Day which also for this year will be in remote mode.
The event will start on Thursday 21st July 2022 and will involve 360 candidates, who will meet an equal number of partner companies, for a total of 3600 interviews divided into 4 days.
The aim has always the same, help students to enter in the professional market through some days of meetings, in which all the graduating students of the current academic year will have the opportunity to present their portfolio to equal number of companies, among the most established on the Italian and international scene.
An opportunity for companies to meet young talents from the world of Design and to find highly profiled candidates to join their workforce.
Companies interested in joining the IAAD. Career Day 2022, are invited to fill out the participation form at the following LINK.
This initiative does not include any registration fee. Deadline Wednesday 6 July.
For more information, please, contact the Partnership & Career Service Office: partnership1@iaad.it
Sustainability is becoming a mainstream issue: for this reason it is increasingly important to assess the impact generated by strategies and projects implemented by profit and non-profit companies.
On the occasion of its 10th edition, the CSR and Social Innovation Expo launches the Impact Award to bring attention to the importance of measuring and assessing the impact generated by projects that aim to contribute to the path towards sustainable development.
With this award, the Expo intends to reward profit and non-profit organisations capable of measuring the economic, social and environmental value created by sustainability projects and initiatives, but also to emphasise the need to communicate the results obtained and share them with stakeholders.
Participation in the award is free and open to all profit and non-profit organisations based in Italy that have assessed the impact of a project carried out between 2019 and 2021. The project may have been realised in different locations but must also have had an impact in Italy.
All organisations that have already communicated the impact of their initiatives to stakeholders, e.g. through events, workshops, the website, newsletters, reports, etc., can participate in the award. To participate, you must submit your project entry form by 31 August 2022.
To be eligible, applications must contain: information on the organisation and the context in which it operates; a description of the project, the methodology adopted and the impact generated; indications on the stakeholder engagement process; a description of the dissemination actions and possible developments of the initiative.
The award ceremony is scheduled during the CSR and Social Innovation Expo on 3 October 2022 at Bocconi University in Milan.
Monica Cesana
premioimpatto@koinetica.it
392 216 9204
Biennale Democrazia is a cultural event promoted by the City of Turin and realised by the Fondazione per la Cultura Torino. The aim of the initiative is to spread a culture of democracy that can be translated into democratic practice.
Biennale Democrazia is a permanent workshop of ideas open to all, with a special focus on high school and university students. The project is divided into a series of preparatory and intermediate stages – from meetings in schools to thematic discussion workshops – culminating, every two years, in five days of public appointments: lectures, debates, readings, forums, in-depth seminars and various moments of active involvement of citizenship. All this with the presence of the most authoritative protagonists of national and international culture, and with the collaboration of over 70 institutions, organisations and associations, which make possible a rich circulation of ideas, suggestions and proposals.
Biennale Democrazia is also art, cinema and theatre. Partnerships with the city’s cultural bodies make it possible to realise initiatives that use the languages of creativity and entertainment, under the banner of transversality and the mixing of expressive modes. Alongside lectures, debates and meetings, the Biennale Democrazia calendar therefore hosts themed film festivals, exhibition itineraries, concerts and moments of city animation, theatre shows, performances and forays into unusual and unexpected spaces.
As announced at the press conference on 7 June, the Biennale Democrazia is returning to the period that has seen it play a leading role from the very beginning: from Wednesday 22 to Sunday 26 March 2023, Turin will host the eighth edition of one of the most eagerly awaited events in the city’s cultural calendar, with a particularly significant title: AT THE LIMITS OF FREEDOM.
At the centre of attention will be freedom, an indispensable reference point for any discourse on democracy and, at the same time, a word that is contested by even very different sides and cultural traditions, to the point of becoming a flag, continually redefined, of the most diverse political actors. Hence the need to talk about it again, with the aim of grasping its nuances, understanding its contradictions, discussing its limits and possible new advances. In continuity with the previous years, the 2023 edition will find space throughout the city, thanks to the active and proactive involvement of the realities that animate it, which will be solicited to put forward opportunities for meetings, activities and reflections on the themes on which it will be articulated: Free all!, Conflicts of freedom, Freedom as a format, Imagining freedom.
With this in mind, the collaboration with the Turin Chamber of Commerce is renewed, which, through its partnership with the Turin Social Impact platform – the ecosystem for social impact entrepreneurship – will make it possible to reflect on urban regeneration practices as a meeting point between active participation and economic and social development.
Promoted by Torino Social Impact in collaboration with Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and conceived and curated by Artissima, the Torino Social Impact Art Award announces the winners of the third edition of the prize aimed at two young talents with a background in contemporary art and a multicultural and migrant background. They are Federico Pozuelo (Madrid, 1992) and Natália Trejbalová (Košice, Slovakia, 1989), who will begin a one-month residency in Turin at Combo, the hospitality partner of the project, with the aim of creating a video work.
The Torino Social Impact Art Award was created in 2020 out of the desire to bring art and social innovation into dialogue with the aim of activating actions aimed at influencing the present and contemporary society. Starting from the conviction that art is able to provide tools and physical spaces to question the social urgencies of contemporaneity, the project aims to experiment with the field of the arts as a catalyst for the elaboration of new responses or structured solutions.
Federico Pozuelo and Natália Trejbalová will benefit from a constant tutoring service by the curators of the project, Matteo Mottin and Ramona Ponzini, founders of the art project Treti Galaxie, and will be accompanied by Torino Social Impact in their exchange with the territory thanks to a workshop aimed at getting to know the local context, with meetings and visits to places significant for the production project they propose.
The videos produced during the residency period will be presented at Artissima 2022 (4-6 November).
The two winners were selected by the “Torino Social Impact Art Award” Committee composed of Luigi Fassi, Director of Artissima, Mario Calderini, Politecnico di Milano and Spokesperson for Torino Social Impact, Alberto Anfossi, Secretary General of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Lorenzo Sassoli de Bianchi, President of Fondazione ICA Milano, Ilda Curti, President of Associazione IUR Innovazione Urbana Rigenerazione, Matteo Bergamini, Editor-in-Chief of Exibart, Matteo Mottin and Ramona Ponzini, founders of the art project Treti Galaxie and tutors of the third edition of the award.
The call 2022 entitled Rebellions and rebirths: the creative potential of confrontation invites us to reflect on the theme of social conflict in its various manifestations and latent forms: a tangible and concrete phenomenon that has always found in art a peaceful means of expression, but at the same time one with a strong potential for denunciation. Contestation and dissent can become a generative and creative tool if the confrontation does not lead to destructive attitudes and behaviour, but is mediated in order to provoke the development of new visions and social transformations. Social conflict, in fact, in addition to highlighting issues of justice, is generative of new representations, ideas, exercises in negotiation and contamination, resistance and mutual aid, which lead to the emergence of innovative practices and novel languages. Within the complexity of social confrontation, art plays a great role in this challenge of recomposition and regeneration.
The Torino Social Impact Art Award was born out of Artissima and Torino Social Impact’s shared vocation for experimentation, with the aim of broadening the scope of social innovation to include contemporary art. Focusing on the space that multiculturalism has in today’s society, the award aims to propose new relationships and open up unexpected scenarios through the languages and gaze of the winning artists.
The first edition of the project in 2020 entitled “Quante Italie?” was won by Caterina Erica Shanta and Liryc Dela Cruz, who respectively produced the works Talking about visibility and Il Mio Filippino: Invisible Bodies, Neglected Movements during their residency in Turin. The second edition of ZOOM IN/ZOOM OUT in 2021 awarded the projects Adhan to Dora by artist Monia Ben Hamouda and STILI DRAMA XVIII-XXI by the MRZB collective.
Federico Pozuelo wins the Torino Social Impact Art Award 2022 with a project involving the creation of a video that will investigate the various historical narratives of Northern Italy, focused on Turin, from the 1970s to today. Letting himself be inspired by the ferment of the Piedmontese capital, the artist will work on historical materials to construct a fiction through the cinematographic language of thriller and horror. The aim is to generate a new narrative that explores new meanings of the way we conceive the present and the reality that surrounds us. The work will present several scenes in which fiction, history and mythology meet, attempting to open up new visions of the world we live in.
Pozuelo’s artistic research has recently focused on the leaden years and the culture produced during those years. From a series of historical research, interviews and fieldwork, she has been able to address the hegemonic construction of historical events, thus realising the potential of fiction and film language in challenging dominant perspectives and showing what is hidden, unrepresented, on the margins.
Natália Trejbalová wins the Torino Social Impact Art Award 2022 with a project investigating the network of underground spaces, a meeting place for marginal communities and a place of rebellion against the hegemony of the world and systems of the surface. Underground spaces also function as time capsules, archives of the human and non-human traces that have passed through them. The artist’s work will be transformed into a journey into the parallel world of underground networks to discover the hidden face of Turin, one of the Italian cities with the largest network of artificial cavities and underground passages: Fortezza Pastiss, the military tunnels under the Pietro Micca Museum, under Palazzo Madama, under Piazza Castello and also the Galleria Reale that connects Turin with Rivoli. The underground city is par excellence the representation of the unconscious and the repressed of the city on the surface. Furthermore, the artist develops the link between speleological exploration and the colonisation of space.
Trejbalová’s artistic practice focuses on the creation of moving images. In recent films she has explored the possibilities of science fiction, our individual perception of transformations on a global scale, possible future interspecies relations and changes in the planetary environment. The film production is usually developed and structured as a work in progress over a longer period of time and includes scenes and settings produced in different residencies and exhibitions.
Federico Pozuelo
Federico Pozuelo (Madrid, 1992) is a visual artist who explores the construction of historical and cultural narratives through different languages. In his latest works he has reflected on the construction of the historical event, the aesthetisation of political violence and the theatricalisation of cultural narratives through the language of film. He is also a founding member of the Amsterdam-based Prom Collective, where he has been developing audiovisual projects and the publishing project Prom.Run since 2017.
Natália Trejbalová
Natália Trejbalová (Košice, Slovakia, 1989) is an artist who devotes her research to the interference between cultural production and digital languages, in a multidisciplinary approach that includes video production, installation, sculpture and performance. She has participated in exhibition projects in various institutions including: Palais de Tokyo, Paris; MUDAM, Luxembourg; Power Station of Arts, Shanghai; Fotomuseum Winterthur; The 16th Quadriennale in Rome; 35m2, Prague; PAV Turin; Regional Art Museum Pardubice; Gossamer Fog, London; Galerie Charlot, Paris.
Trejbalová has been artist in residence at Schafhof-Europäisches Künstlerhaus Oberbayern, Freising; Kunstststiftung Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart; AIR Futura, Prague; Sim, Reykjavík.
His most recent solo exhibitions include Isle of the Altered Sun at Promise of Kneropy, Bratislava.
Treti Galaxie is an art project founded by Matteo Mottin and Ramona Ponzini. Its aim is to work with artists in an expanded way, respecting their projects and ideas and helping them to produce and develop exhibitions in the most complete way. For this reason, he chooses not to have a fixed location but to seek out each time the space that best suits the project he is working on.
Since March 2016, he has been developing a series of solo exhibitions in which artists dialogue with the hidden urban fabric of Turin, reconfiguring the use of the city’s historical sites such as the Mole Antonelliana, the Sala Reale of Torino Porta Nuova Station, the Underground Fortress of Pastiss and the Arches of the Ex-MOI, signing collaborations with the National Cinema Museum of Turin, Grandi Stazioni Rail, the Pietro Micca Civic Museum, Parcolimpico and Acer.
In 2020 he curates the project Endless Nostalghia, dedicated to the work of film director Andrej Tarkovskij, among the winners of the Toscanaincontemporanea2020 call for entries. In 2021 he is co-curator of Supercondominio3 for the Castello di Rivoli Museo di Arte Contemporanea. In 2022 he inaugurates the exhibition season of NAM – Not A Museum at Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence, and curates the sixth edition of the ClubGAMeC Prize.
Social Impact Agenda per l’Italia promotes impact investing: investing to generate a positive social and environmental impact that is measurable and compatible with an economic return. And it launches with the support of the Banca d’Italia the project “Impact investing: transforming finance for real change”.
The number of people in absolute poverty recorded by ISTAT in Italy in 2021 is about 5.6 million, 9.4% of the population, and just over 1.9 million households (7.5% of the total). Absolute poverty confirms the historic highs reached in 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic began. For relative poverty, the incidence rises to 11.1 percent (from 10.1 percent in 2020) and about 2.9 million households are below the threshold. This is just one of the pieces of evidence that show the unsustainability of the current economic development model, even more, inadequate in the face of the recent dramas of the pandemic and war.
A response to the urgent need for change comes from impact finance (impact investing), which promotes a new investment strategy, no longer oriented towards maximising profits but making concrete contributions to the social and environmental needs of the community, while maintaining an economic return.
But what does impact investing actually mean? What are the opportunities for businesses, the non-profit world, and civil society? Social Impact Agenda per l’Italia (SIA), an Italian network that disseminates knowledge on impact finance, is launching the research project ‘Impact Investing: transforming finance for real change’ with the support of Banca d’Italia: the aim is to contribute to the dissemination of the culture and practices of impact investing in the public administration, the financial sector and business, for a relaunch of the truly sustainable economy.
“In Italy, the impact investing market is already worth €8 billion (investment 2019) and is constantly expanding,” says Filippo Montesi, secretary general of SIA. “However, the urgency of the crisis in our country requires it to grow rapidly, and this is why SIA wants to involve economic players, offering them opportunities for discussion, comparison, and expansion of skills, which will make impact investing opportunities more identifiable and viable. The project that we are launching today thanks to the support of the Bank of Italy and which involves some of the most important players in the financial sector, businesses, the cooperative world, and the third sector, respond to this objective”.
The project, starting on June 21, sees the participation of over 60 Italian professionals from the world of public administration and institutional investors, banks, universities and research centres among the most important in Italy, investment funds and foundations, for-profit and social enterprises, as well as social promotion associations and non-profit organisations.
Participants will work on 3 tables each dedicated to a specific topic of impact investing: Public development policies and incentives for impact investing, Sustainable and fundable business models, and Standards and methods for impact measurement and reporting.
At the end of the meetings, each table will produce a document summarising what emerged from the discussion of the actors involved on the specific topic and a toolkit will be produced with concrete indications and guidelines for the realisation of impact investments, which not only have attractive returns but also positive impacts on society and the environment. This toolkit will be built to be effectively and immediately used by businesses, public administrations, and the third sector to start concrete paths of impact finance.
The results of the project will be presented in the coming months through public webinars with the aim of increasingly broadening the adherence of economic actors to impact finance and thus contributing to real change.
Social Impact Agenda per l’Italia (SIA) is the reference association in Italy for the promotion of impact finance (impact investing): investing to generate positive social and environmental impact that is measurable and compatible with an economic return.
SIA brings together a network of 25 organisations, representing investors, social enterprises, market builders and philanthropic institutions, working together to realise a new model of a truly sustainable economy.
The association operates through advocacy, research, communication and market development activities.
SIA is the Italian Advisory Board of the GSG (Global Steering Group for Impact Investment), an international movement promoting impact investing in the world.
We want the area’s most promising young people interested in working in this field to find ISC the ideal place to develop their dreams.
Although it may sound ambitious, we would like ISC to become the nice place to work, as Silicon Valley is for the digital world.
A place where, with a focus on young people and female leadership, widespread and interpenetrating innovation can flourish.
The Call “We are looking for TALENTS” promoted by the ISC LAB incubator in collaboration with Torino Social Impact and PoliTo Careers, has the strategic objective of identifying those who want to focus their talent and skills within various innovation-oriented realities.
ISC LAB is aware that the company’s value creation process passes through the correct identification and management of human resources. ISC Incubator’s mission is to draw future scenarios and design winning solutions for innovative companies through the search for the best talents able to adapt to constantly changing conditions.
Through this Call for Talents, ISC LAB intends to collect expressions of interest from those interested in joining the collaboration/recruitment/stage initiatives promoted and in making their CVs accessible to the platforms with which the Incubator has established partnerships. We are looking for bright, dynamic but above all curious people. Who are willing to challenge themselves and explore alternative paths.
A few minutes ago the fourth day of the XXXVII Special Olympics National Summer Games in Turin 2022 ended: a real sports party was staged on all the competition fields and at the PalaVela Olympic Village, with 3 thousand athletes with and without intellectual disabilities and the whole community involved in the event to underline once again the values of inclusion, sharing and fraternity founding in the movement created in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in the United States.
The protagonists of the games are “back on the field” in the disciplines of athletics, basketball, bowling, bowls, 5-a-side football, rowing, horse riding, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, golf, karate, swimming, volleyball, rugby, tennis and table tennis; the competitions in rhythmic gymnastics, golf, karate and rugby ended today. The Health Programs initiatives also continued at the Special Olympics Village, with free screening for all athletes thanks to the collaboration of 150 volunteer medical specialists: among these Opening Eyes (optometric screening), Special Smiles (dental screening), Fit Feet (podiatry screening) ) and Health Promotion (nutrition and prevention). From 10 to 12 the demonstration of the YAP – Young Athletes Program took place, with motor play activities for children with and without intellectual disabilities in view of a future entry into the Special Olympics panorama from the age of 8. The Program provides an introduction to basic motor skills such as running, kicking and throwing through playful activities with the aim of promoting social inclusion by extending the benefits to families and the community as well. Furthermore, after the message of peace launched on the occasion of the Opening Ceremony, a group of Ukrainian families were guests of the Village.
Testifying the achievements of the Special Olympics athletes is also the story of Francesca Sedani, volleyball player of Passeportout Valsesia: “I practiced swimming – she says – since I was a child, while I met volleyball at school: doing sports allows me to be in company, do not get bored and keep busy, since I started I have improved my self-esteem because I really like being with my mates and comparing myself with them. My dream is to continue like this: after my debut at the Play the Games in Biella in October 2021, I would also like to participate in the World Cup, but the Nationals are still a good starting point and I’m really happy to take home some medals”. The progress made thanks to sport is also witnessed by Francesca Vinzio, President and Head of Delegation of the association: “Since she started with us – she explains – last September she had a crazy evolution, going from total inactivity to doing 2 workouts a week of swimming and 1 week of volleyball. Thanks to the progress made with sport, Francesca was also included in a job placement project that could soon lead her to obtain a company contract, given the excellent skills demonstrated: the useful features here also helped her in obtaining the diploma, at work and in private life “.
Tomorrow, Wednesday 8 June, in the morning includes athletics, basketball, bowling, bowling, 5-a-side football, rowing, horseback riding, artistic gymnastics, swimming, volleyball, tennis and table tennis. In the afternoon, however, it will continue with basketball, bowling, bowling, 5-a-side football, horse riding, artistic gymnastics, volleyball, tennis and table tennis.
Below, the details of the tenders and facilities:
The complete program is available here
The images, with daily updates, are available here
Economist and entrepreneur, father of microcredit and social enterprises, founder of Grameen Bank, the Nobel Prize winner spoke at the International Festival of Economics.
The meeting in the Chamber of Commerce sanctioned the commitment to bring the annual gathering of the global community of social enterprises, in recent years in Nairobi, Berlin, Paris, Mexico City, Kuala Lumpur, to Turin on 7-8 November
The project to hold The Global Social Business Summit 2022 in Turin in November, organised by The Grameen Creative Lab and Yunus Center, is taking shape with the support of the main local institutional actors and important private groups.
On 4 June, Prof. Yunus was in Turin, a guest at the Festival dell’Economia, and on this occasion he requested a meeting with the local system, to further present the summit and enhance the partnerships and projects that are being outlined for the event.
In the afternoon, he met with the President of the Turin Chamber of Commerce, Dario Gallina, at the historical headquarters in Via Carlo Alberto 16: “Receiving Professor Yunus at the Chamber of Commerce headquarters is an exciting and significant stage of a path that was started many years ago with farsightedness by our organisation with the creation of the Social Entrepreneurship Committee. A path that has allowed us to establish ourselves as an international model in social economy development policies, also thanks to the experience of Torino Social Impact, a territorial platform that now counts 220 partners, dedicated to these issues. The decision to nominate us to host the Global Social Business Summit 2022 next November, after the organisation of the GSG For Impact Investment last 23-25 May and the Social Value International meeting scheduled for October, makes 2022 a special year, which sees our territory as the undisputed protagonist of the global debate on the impact economy”.
“Global warming, the concentration of wealth, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, rising prices, and food shortages have created a massive combined attack on the world. This worsening crisis needs major collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty, reduce inequality and build a healthier world for all – said Prof. Muhammad Yunus. “We will only succeed if we act together, now. Creativity and human values-driven entrepreneurship can play a significant role in solving society’s most urgent needs, but we need a much more ambitious commitment to the vision of a Three-Zero World (zero net carbon emissions, zero concentration of wealth to alleviate poverty, and zero unemployment) by stimulating entrepreneurship in each and every one of us: the time to do it is now!”
“We are delighted to announce that the Global Social Business Summit 2022, the global gathering of the social business community oriented towards solving society’s and the planet’s problems, will meet on 7 and 8 November for the first time since the pandemic right in Turin, Italy,” continued Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Yunus. “The Summit is an important moment for the global community to engage various parties in addressing society’s inequalities and create systems that work collaboratively for the common good, supporting the transition to sustainable and equitable development.
The city of Turin inspires us by showing the way to adapt to the needs of a sustainable, digitised and rapidly changing society”.
Turin was chosen by the Summit organisers as a model of Social Impact and Social Innovation recognised by the European Commission also through the Torino Social Impact ecosystem, a public-private platform for social impact that today gathers more than 200 local partners.
One of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time, Prof Yunus can be defined as the father of microcredit and social business. He is the founder of the Grameen Bank, and of more than 60 nationwide social enterprises in Bangladesh.
For his contribution to fighting poverty in the world, Prof. Yunus and the Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Prof. Yunus has countless awards to his credit, such as the US Congressional Gold Medal, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the St. Francis Lamp of Peace in Assisi in 2019, the Olympic laurel in Tokyo in 2021, and the UN Foundation’s Global Change Award.
It is the annual gathering of the social business community.
The Summit is the largest social business platform worldwide and an opportunity to learn from case histories that have changed the world for those who want to.
An intensive conference programme, panel discussions and workshops also offer a unique opportunity to share existing ideas and initiatives, make connections and continue learning from social business actors around the world.
Each year the Global Social Business Summit moves to a new city: 2009 & 2010 in Wolfsburg, Germany; 2011 & 2012 in Vienna, Austria; 2013 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2014 in Mexico City, Mexico; 2015 in Berlin, Germany; 2017 in Paris, France; 2018 in Wolfsburg, Germany; 2019 in Berlin, Germany; 2021 in Nairobi.
Not even the time to archive the tremendous emotions experienced during the Opening Ceremony, staged last night at the “Grande Torino” Olympic Stadium, which for the XXXVII Special Olympics National Summer Games is already time to get to the heart of the competitions.
The 3,000 athletes with and without intellectual disabilities participating “returned to the field” today in almost all disciplines, filling most of the sports facilities involved with energy, vitality and talent. During the day there were then athletics, badminton (whose program ended in the afternoon), basketball, bowling, bowling, 5-a-side football, rowing, horse riding, rhythmic gymnastics, golf, karate, swimming, volleyball, rugby tests. , tennis and table tennis. At the PalaVela, headquarters of the Special Olympics Village, the Health Programs initiatives were held simultaneously with the Family Health Forum, with free screening for all athletes thanks to the collaboration of 150 volunteer medical specialists: among these Opening Eyes (optometric screening ), Special Smiles (dental screening), Fit Feet (podiatry screening) and Health Promotion (nutrition and prevention).
Tomorrow, Tuesday 7 June, will be no less intense with competitions scheduled from 9 to 18.30: we will start in the morning with athletics, basketball, bowling, bowls, 5-a-side football, rowing, horse riding, rhythmic gymnastics, golf, karate, swimming , volleyball, rugby, tennis and table tennis, and then continue in the afternoon with athletics, basketball, bowling, bowling, 5-a-side football, rowing, horseback riding, gymnastics, golf, karate, volleyball, tennis and table tennis. The Tuesday of the Games will also give other intense sensations to the PalaVela Olympic Village, where the Health Programs will be joined (from 10 to 12) by a demonstration of the YAP – Young Athletes Program, with motor play activities for children with and without intellectual disabilities in sight. of a future entry into the Special Olympics panorama from the age of 8. The Program provides an introduction to basic motor skills such as running, kicking and throwing through playful activities with the aim of promoting social inclusion by extending the benefits to families and the community as well.
Below, the details of the tenders and facilities:
The complete program is available here
The images, with daily updates, are available here
The wait is finally over: with the opening ceremony staged on the evening of Sunday 5 June at the Olympic Stadium “Grande Torino“, the XXXVII Special Olympics Summer National Games in Turin 2022 officially opened, the largest event sport dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities never realized in Italy with 3000 athletes, 20 sports disciplines, 1300 volunteers, 420 accompanying delegates, 520 technicians and 1400 family members.
The event was characterized by a continuous and incessant succession of emotions, with moments of great music and entertainment alternating with the protocol of the Olympic ceremonial with the conduct of Francesco Gherardi, Raffaele Italiano and the fencing champion Margherita Granbassi: the evening began at 9 pm with the parade of delegations, divided by region, with the 3 thousand athletes absolute protagonists of the races scheduled until Thursday 9 together with their technicians. A message of universal peace then rose from the field, with the guest of honor Arisa singing Imagine by John Lennon accompanied on the piano by Maestro Giuseppe Barbera and followed by an intense vocal version of the Hymn by Mameli. “May I win, but if I don’t succeed I can try with all my strength“: it was the oath of the Special Olympics athlete, who announced to the audience in the stands the entrance of the torch symbol of the diffusion of Olympic values among peoples escorted by an athlete and a partner athlete. The enthusiasm then skyrocketed with the lighting of the tripod and the opening declaration of the Games by the Mayor of the City of Turin Stefano Lo Russo.
From Monday 6, the competitions will continue (with hours 9-18.30) which began on Sunday morning with the “divisioning”, grouping of the athletes into homogeneous heats / groups based on the level of skill to guarantee everyone the opportunity to express themselves to their full potential. #TORniamoINcampO, in addition to being the claim chosen for the Games, from this point of view will also be the watchword for the champions who will compete after two years of pandemic in the 20 disciplines on the program; team sports will take place in unified mode, with the simultaneous presence of players with and without disabilities. In this regard, Turin will be a great protagonist not only as a host city through the provision of the over 20 sports facilities involved, but also and above all as a welcoming and inclusive place.
Below, the details of the tenders and facilities:
The images, with daily updates, are available here
The PalaVela will be the fulcrum of the entire event not only as the venue for badminton and volleyball competitions, but also with the Special Olympics Village, a meeting point for athletes and volunteers: entertainment activities will take place here with live music and animation during the throughout the day, as well as educational workshops and a family area dedicated to relaxation. Inside the structure, the Closing Party of the Games is also scheduled for Wednesday 8 to 21.
Among the proposals of the Village there are:
Fabiana Dadone – Minister for Youth Policies: “With your commitment during the pandemic you have raised the concept of resilience to a higher level: you are the living testimony of how thanks to sport and a great social experience it is impossible to leave someone behind. With the Government we supported the candidacy for the Special Olympics 2025 Winter World Games, which will take place right here in Turin, and we will continue to do so: I wish the children to have fun because seeing them happy fills me with joy “.
Alberto Cirio – President of the Piedmont Region: “Seeing you parading on this wonderful field for this top level event was a river of life. Furthermore, starting from Piedmont and Turin has a symbolic meaning of great value: we are proud to have hosted major events such as Eurovision, the Book Fair and the Festival of Economics in recent months, but the Special Olympics Games are certainly the most qualifying event ever because it is able to warm our hearts. All of Piedmont embraces you and sends you a great good luck”.
Stefano Lo Russo – Mayor of Turin: “We welcome the whole Special Olympics movement to Turin: your oath allows us to underline the desire to be together after 2 very hard years, which have kept us at a distance making us enter an unnatural dimension of physical distance. Being here today is a source of great pride and hope because sport brings people closer by making us immerse in reality and in the spirit of sharing”.
Angelo Moratti – President of Special Olympics Italy: “What a thrill to see you again after 2 and a half years: I still remember with great pleasure the 2019 World Games in Abu Dhabi, with tens of thousands of people from all over the world, the most beautiful event in history by Special Olympics. At a certain point, however, the world closed and the hardest moment came with courageous decisions: from there we invented the Smart Games, giving our athletes the opportunity to play sports directly from their homes by sharing viral videos capable of to be an example for the whole world”.
Alessandra Palazzotti – Director of Special Olympics Italy: “During the pandemic, our athletes guided us and showed us the way, they were our beacon even if we never really stopped: in the last 2 years, in fact, we have trained 60 leading athletes and 40 leading athletes for families, as well as organizing the Smart Games. Today is a whole other story because we are finally back on the field, I invite everyone to underline the abilities, skills and uniqueness of each of our athletes, to whom I want to say to have fun and give the best of themselves because you have shown us that they do not exist. obstacles that you cannot overcome”.
Carlo Cremonte – Director of Special Olympics Italia Team Piemonte: “We have worked hard with all the national and local staff to allow the athletes to compete in the best possible way. There have been many open doors and for this I want to thank the institutions and companies that have supported us: if placed in the best conditions, our children can amaze us and express those talents that make them protagonists even in everyday life. Creating these conditions is a duty of every citizen and we are sure that the athletes will not prove us wrong”.
Federica Borla – Eurogymnica Torino Athlete: “The last 2 years have been very heavy not only for isolation and loneliness but also for the fear of getting close to people, in training and in the gym, or even just hugging them. Today, finally, we are here for the National Summer Games, where we will all return to the field together and I’m sure we will have a lot of fun. From tomorrow I expect you to cheer for all the athletes who will participate in the races”.
#TORniamoINcampO: this is the claim chosen to best represent the multiple meanings of the XXXVII Special Olympics National Summer Games scheduled from 4 to 9 June 2022, presented this morning at the Centro Congressi Unione Industriali Torino in Via Vela 17. Representative because marks the official return to sporting activity in presence for the entire Special Olympics movement, representative because it underlines the role of Turin as the national and international capital of sport. The Turin Games, the largest sporting event dedicated to people with intellectual disabilities ever held in Italy, will bring over 3,000 athletes from every corner of the “boot” to the territory of the Metropolitan City (together with technicians, carers, families and volunteers), with a fallout destined to have a decisive impact not only on the sports and social fabric but also on the economic and commercial one.
The sports disciplines included in the program are 20, many of which are characterized by Unified Sport involving in the same team athletes with and without intellectual disabilities. The calendar of the event foresees, for Saturday 4 June, the accreditation of the Special Olympics delegations from all over Italy and the meeting of the heads of delegations. On day 5, during the morning, the “divisioning” will be held, preliminary competitions where the National Special Olympics technicians will evaluate the skill level of the athletes and their relative inclusion within the heats and groups / groups. All this in view of the subsequent races, which will continue until the end of the event in various facilities in the area: the timetable will always be from 9 to 18.30 except for Thursday 9, the day of departure, when they will end at 13. disciplines and facilities:
Pala Vela will also host the Special Olympics Village with recreational activities open to all, health programs and demonstrations from the YAP Young Athletes Program and MATP Motor Activity Training Program projects.
The presentation press conference took place just as the streets of Turin were the protagonists of the Torch Run organized on the occasion of the Games, which arrived in the city after having left Udine on 18 March and having crossed all of Italy in 44 stages. The torch, the original symbol of the desire to spread Olympic values among the populations, during the morning was the protagonist of the raising of the flag at the “Cernaia” Barracks – headquarters of the Carabinieri School of Turin – in the presence of 275 students and the Italian champion of pentathlon and heptathlon Sveva Gerevini, standard bearer of the Sports Center of the Carabinieri and godmother of the event, as well as a former pupil. The torch then left, escorted by the Carabinieri, to the headquarters of the Turin Industrial Union and then resumed its journey towards the subsequent stages of Bardonecchia (June 1), Grugliasco (June 2) and Settimo Torinese (June 3). The return to the regional capital is set for Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th June.
The opening ceremony of the XXXVII Special Olympics National Summer Games in Turin 2022 will be officially kicked off by the Opening Ceremony (with free admission), scheduled for Sunday 5 June at 9 pm at the “Grande Torino” Olympic Stadium. The event will follow the Olympic protocol, starting with the parade of delegations and continuing with the oath of
judges and athletes: “May I win, but if I fail, may I try with all my strength.” When these words resound in the stands it will be the turn of one of the most exciting moments: the entrance into the stadium of the torch symbol of peace and hope, escorted by an athlete and a partner athlete, with the lighting of the tripod; finally, the Mayor of Turin Stefano Lo Russo will officially declare the Games open. During the evening there will be moments of music and entertainment, as well as institutional greetings, with the presence of the singer Arisa as guest of honor.
The Special Olympics National Summer Games of Turin 2022 are organized in collaboration and with the patronage of Piedmont 2022 – European Region of Sport, Piedmont Region, City of Turin and Rai for Social. Special Olympics Italy is a meritorious association recognized by CONI and the Italian Paralympic Committee
Premium Partner Banca Intesa San Paolo
Gold Partner Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation
Silver Partner Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture of Turin, iZilove Foundation, Mitsubishi Electric
Bronze Partner Belron, Social Sports Cooperative, Rotary District 2031
Friends Otis, Würth, Michelin, ABB, Mattel, Green Vision Group
Media Partner: La Gazzetta dello Sport
Adidas Technical Partner
Toyota Mobility Partner
YAP Partner iDO
Healthy Athletes Partner Golisano Foundation
The torches were made for Special Olympics by Bonino Carding Machines Srl
This activity is also carried out with the contribution referred to in law 208/15
“Stories Matter” is the official side events of the first #NewEuropeanBauhaus Festival that will take place in June.
The opening of “Stories Matter” photo exhibition will take place in 3 cities: Beirut, Barcelona, Brussels.
The choice of three cities is to discover how projects, art, culture and social initiative intersect to transform our community into an inclusive, beautiful and sustainable future place to live in.
Join us to build together a sustainable & inclusive future that is beautiful for our eyes, minds & souls!
