ROME (ITALPRESS) – “We were the last bank that had not yet made the change to a joint-stock company, we were a public economic entity, and with the occasion we also updated our name just to communicate and make clear the fact that we had been dealing for years not only with sports, but also with culture.” This was said by the president of the Institute for Sports and Cultural Credit, Beniamino Quintieri, during an interview at the Rome office of Italpress. “It should be remembered that this Institute is the only existing reality in the international economic scene that has as its mission to deal with two sectors: that on sports heritage and that on cultural heritage,” explained the Icsc’s number one, “There is no bank in the world that does this. We will continue, in absolute continuity with the past, but obviously with greater emphasis and enthusiasm in pursuing this mission that the public has given us.” Italy will host the European Football Championships in 2032 together with Turkey, but the situation at the level of infrastructure is not the best: “It is not an exciting picture,” Quintieri pointed out, “a recent European report assessed what the investments in stadiums have been in the last twenty years and Italy does not figure in the top ten. We have invested little while there are countries like Poland and Turkey that have built more than 30 stadiums in the last 20 years. Turkey is already ready, they are spoiled for choice. We, on the other hand, will have to invest in order to be ready, our stadiums are on average old and have an average age of about sixty years against an average in Britain and Germany which is just over thirty. And so they are stadiums that are not very usable by the standards of a modern facility. That is, a facility that should not only be used for the game, but a place that lives every day with stores and events. There will be a great need for investment on a large number of Serie A and Serie B stadiums.” On the public-private partnership Quintieri points out, “I think there is an absolute need to strengthen it, it is said in so many contexts but in this case it is indispensable. Without this it is difficult for relevant investments to be made.” Final comment on Italy’s historical and artistic heritage: “We have a potential like no one in the world, the majority of Italian municipalities have a site or something that deserves to be enhanced. Our goal, also using funds and resources, is to help municipalities in this important work of modernization and greater exploitation of this heritage,” he concluded.- photo Italpress -(ITALPRESS)
