THEY LIVED. The first leather wedges and the first wood on which to bounce it came from Vigevano for Francesco Ferrari, a now emerging star of national and soon international basketball who last night was on the scoresheet in the Euroleague in the Virtus Bologna jersey in the match against Zalgiris Kaunas after having signed an agreement in recent days until 2029 with the glorious Bologna club.
l’infanzia al palabattata
Born in Novara on 18 August 2005, Francesco Ferrari was only 4 years old when his father Federico, known to all as “Mine” in the basketball world and to the yellow-blue people, Professor Ferrari from Modena, was the captain of Miro Radici Vigevano in B1 under the orders of Gigi Garelli, an iconic coach and, on that occasion, returning to settle in his own way (and as the historic square had dreamed and waited for decades) an unfinished business. While father Federico, together with the various Ghersetti, Cavallaro, Ganeto, Banti, Zaccariello, Panzini, especially the unforgettable and unforgettable superfine playmaker Matteo Bertolazzi, won the B1 championship, bringing Vigevano back to the A2 series after decades, the then little Federico toddled on the parquet of the PalaBasletta, the legendary hangar in via Carducci which was dismantled and redeveloped two and a half years ago, after an infinite history of ducal and national basketball.
Who knows if even the Ferrari saga will have grabbed a piece of it when during the demolition phase, enthusiasts and supporters were able to take home a strip of parquet, a seat or other souvenirs of the PalaBasletta… Even the following season 2009-2010, the one in which he turned five years old, little Francesco fraternized with leather in segments during the week in via Carducci and on Sundays closer to home, at the Pala Dal Lago in Novara where Vigevano had been forced to emigrate to play a legendary A2, the one in which, while Francesco was dribbling at the PalaBasletta, Franco Provinciali, the historic unforgettable storekeeper of ducal basketball, taught the American winger JJ Williams essential words and excerpts of the vernacular and Vigevanese dialect such as the famous “sugaman” emitted gutturally by the elastic ebony man when, during training breaks, he asked Provinciali for a towel to clean his sweat. It was the season in which the same group that had won the B1, with the addition of the Americans Boyette and Williams, the community Pearson and the Brianza Squarcina, reached game 5 of the first play-off round, one step away from the semi-final for the A1.
So, on the one hand, the dramatic disappearance of Vigevano before his heroic resurrection up to the present day, on the other the impressive growth of Francesco Ferrari in the youth team, the emergence of talent at the Borgomanero College with father Federico who, having hung up his boots, had become the driving force behind a project that also involved his eldest brother Alessandro on the field.
A CAREER IN GREAT RISE
The rest is recent history, Francesco arrived in A2 last year in Cividale, he was MVP a few months ago of the Under 20 European Championship won by the Azzurrini, then received at the Quirinale by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, subsequently also came the call to the senior national team from Coach Luca Banchi. Above all, Francesco scored 36 points in the A2 match against Urania Milano a month ago. An Italian hasn’t scored so much between A1 and A2 since 1991.
Now the landing at Virtus Bologna and a contract until 2029 from which to exit in case of NBA call, next stop of the train that left from PalaBasletta… —
