MATERA – The potential is there. The will to proceed also. Only the last step is missing: the signing of an agreement that would make Basilicata an attraction for lovers of “slow pitch softball”. A variant of baseball, widely spread in the United States, which is also developing in this region, in Rivello in particular, where since 2016 there has been a softball team, the Acli Rivello, made up of around forty kids aged between 5 and 18 years old, and winner of numerous Italian student championships.
Acting as a link between the two realities, the Lucanian one and the American one, are the Cna Basilicata and the Cna Commercio e Turismo, which in the past few days organized a mini four-day tour to introduce the international buyer to Manuel T. Ferrero III commissioner International slow pitch softball coming from the city of Miami, a local reality that can potentially be used not only as places in which to establish this sporting discipline, but also as possible destinations for slow, sustainable tourism, in contact with nature and the diversified scenarios that Basilicata can offer: from Maratea, the pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea, to Rivello, to Brindisi di Montagna with the Grancia, to Castelmezzano with the great attraction of the Flight of the Angel, to Tursi with the Arab neighborhood of Rabatana and then declining on the Ionian coast to Policoro in the structures serving the many children who, through the school camps, frequent the sea all year round practicing water sports.
Last stop Matera with the Sassi districts, the Murgia park and its artisanal productions. «Basilicata is a beautiful land with its picturesque villages and the sea – said the Ferrero buyer – and every place is suitable for practicing this sport, you only need a field of 5 thousand square metres, otherwise they would also be suitable places for he spends his athletic training and post-game time with boat trips or excursions in the woods. The intention is to bring other Italian or American or European teams around Basilicate and organize tournaments. In Rivello I met the team and its president Gustavo Savino. They are guys who have a lot of potential and a lot of passion and could compete with other teams at a national but also European level. In America it is a sport practiced mainly by adults but it is also starting to spread in schools.”
A sport for everyone therefore, but what is the opportunity and return in economic terms for Basilicata? «It is a discipline capable of moving small tourist flows. We are talking about 250-300 people who follow this sport and who if they came to our territory, even from the United States, would stay overnight for at least a week, with a good economic return for the countries of the Ionian area and the hinterland – explains Renato Zaccagnino, president of the Cna di Potenza – Our interest is to make this sport known and to help buyers discover new places to bring these activities. Rivello is the only one in Basilicata, and we must create the conditions for this discipline to develop. As for the timing, we hope to be able to announce some good news next spring.”
Investing in softball means «focusing not on mass tourism with large numbers – adds Leonardo Montemurro, president of the Cna Basilicata – but on a sustainable, slow way of using the territory, capable of involving communities. On the 11th we will be in Rimini at the TTG – Experiential Tourism Exhibition scheduled until October 13th, where we will also present the ceramic tour, which brings together three regions: Basilicata, Puglia and Campania”.
2023-10-10 05:03:19
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