(FEB 23)  Friday sees the opening of a great new National Boxing Museum, the first of its kind in Italy and open to visitors to that wonderful European city of Assisi made famous by Saint Francis.

The Museum will be formally opened by Mayor of Assisi, Stefania Proietti, and AIBA Vice President Franco Falcinelli who is also President of the European Boxing Confederation (EUBC).

The new Museum is housed in the Montedison structure, located above the Lyric Theatre and forms part of the Italian Boxing Federation’s High Performance Unit and National Technical Centre.

The project was created in 2004 by then Secretary of the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities, Hon. Mario Pescante (now Ambassador to the International Olympic Committee within the United Nations), who accepted the challenge from FPI President Franco Falcinelli.

“The creation of the first National Boxing Museum is the result of general goodwill, including the fundamental commitment and availability of the Municipality of Assisi and the Italian Boxing Federation – said President Franco Falcinelli -. The keywords to describe it are “to gather, to show, to inform and to engage.” It will be possible to admire both the permanent and temporary exhibition among the spaces dedicated to conferences, meetings, cultural events, training and updating.”

Visiting the Museum you can admire historical objects of the ‘Noble Art’ like the rings used in 1983 for the World Cup, where amateur champions of the calibre of Francesco Damiani (superheavyweight), Maurizio Cue (bantamweight) and Luciano Bruno (welterweight) came, saw and conquered gold medals against all comers.

There are also paintings, videos, books, newspapers, gloves, uniforms of the athletes and Olympic gold medals: Nino Benvenuti’s in Rome 1960, Maurizio Strip’s in Los Angeles 1984, Roberto Cammarelle’s in Beijing 2008. That said it is worth a visit by boxing fans of any Nation though the majority of exhibits are Italian.

There is also an exhibition dedicated to Italian women’s boxing which insofar as Italy is concerned, had its baptism in 2001,when the first officially sanctioned ‘amateur’ bouts took place in the town of Umbertide, famous for its mediaeval Castle and its beautiful Ceramics.

When next in Assisi be sure to have a look at the National Boxing Museum, the brainchild of Franco Falcinelli. It’s well worth a visit!

Photo: courtesy of European Boxing Confederation (EUBC)

Photo of : Mayor of Assisi, Stefania Proietti, and the EUBC President Franco Falcinelli