A curling under a bright sun and just a few meters from the Colosseum? It’s an activity that has drawn some Italians in for several months. A curling rink has indeed been installed on the Oppian Hill, amid Rome’s ancient monuments. “Everything happened in a completely spontaneous way and we had a lot of fun”, tells the New York Times Luca Puzziferri, a 37-year-old doctor who came to try the sport with his wife and two friends.
Since the Milano-Cortina Winter Games held in February, curling has generated a certain enthusiasm among Italians. The Italian team notably won a bronze medal in mixed doubles, sparking unprecedented interest in the discipline in the Bel Paese.
A curling rink in an exceptional location
This curling rink in the unique setting was installed last June by Sport e Salute, the public body responsible for promoting sport in Italy. “After the Olympic Games, everyone had a dream: to discover curling,” explains to our colleagues Diego Nepi Molineris, the organization’s chief executive. The institute wished to take advantage of the curling spotlight to encourage Italians to discover the sport even more.
To create an outdoor rink that can withstand the heat, its surface is made of plastic. It measures about 12 meters long by nearly 3 meters wide, compared with roughly 45 meters by 5 for a regulation rink. The stones are also much lighter and the brooms are mainly used to retrieve them rather than to modify their trajectory.
The idea is therefore not to turn participants into Olympic athletes, but simply to introduce the rules and the sensations of curling. “It’s the spirit of the game that counts”, says Andrea Gios, president of the Italian Ice Sports Federation.
What is the popularity of curling in Italy?
If the country hopes to attract new players, curling facilities in Italy are few. The country currently has only seven dedicated rinks, all located in the north, for just 425 licensed players. The north of the boot is indeed the cradle of the discipline since it was introduced there in the 1950s in the Alps, at Cortina d’Ampezzo.
The sports officials now hope to capitalize on the momentum created by the Olympic Games to develop the sport. If demand is sufficient, the rink installed opposite the Colosseum could be rebuilt with real ice as early as November. It would not be of international dimensions, but would at least allow Romans to get an introduction to curling. This would thus help sustain interest in the discipline.
