A journey through time, and through the beauty of its millennia, brings us to the indelible images of the 1960 Olympic Games.  With a show that is warmly enshrined in our memories, and brings our dream of those five circles even closer, the Rome 2024 Organizing Committee revealed the details of the Italian capital's candidature for hosting the Olympics and the Paralympics.  This was presented to the International Olympic Committee at Lausanne only today.

Heading the 1,000-plus guests present at the Palazzo dei Congressi dell'Eur was the actor Sergio Castellitto who, in his speech, stressed Rome’s uniqueness with "a city that has been reborn a thousand times, but still remains itself."  Firstly however, the president of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) read the welcoming message (click here for complete text) that the President of the Republic of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, had addressed to him and to the president of the organising committee, Luca Montezemolo: "Just as the 1960 Olympics signalled an important step in the economic and social development of Italy - writes the head of state - my hope is that the 2024 Olympics will become the crossroads of new growth, marked by quality and sustainability."

This was a message that the file was intended to convey in the best way possible.  The candidacy of "Rome, a city of hospitality", was based on four pillars: maximum transparency, a "low cost" approach, sharing and participation, and an improvement for the city (click here for full prospectus).  Montezemolo was to illustrate the vision of the candidature, also announcing the costs of the Olympic project.  The budget is to start at 2.1 billion euros, required to build or permanently modernize the permanent sites located in the city of Rome (70% of this is already available): the Olympic Village, the Cycling Arena and le Vele at Tor Vergata, the IBC and Main Press Centre at Saxa Rubra, the nature reserve at the Nuova Fiera de Roma, the Stadio Flaminio (download slides of Montezemolo’s presentation here).

The Chairman of the Committee explained that “The budget for the temporary sites will be 3.2 billion euros, and will include the organizational and managing costs.  However, to this amount we must add revenue.  In the case we win the competition for the Olympic bid, we would have a billion euros from the IOC.  Considering the revenue from expected grants, sponsorship, tickets and licensing, we are aiming to equalize the cost of the temporary sites."  In figures, according to a study by the University of Rome Tor Vergata (available here), conducted by Professor Beniamino Quintieri, the economic impact of the Games will produce a GDP growth of +0.4%, the creation of 177 thousand jobs, and an economic benefit of 2.9 billion euro.

In the auditorium were the representatives of the Government, the heads of the civil and military authorities, the federal presidents, and the all-time Italian national sports champions.  On the stage you could just breathe in the magical air that linked, inextricably, the past, present and future.  Here the Olympic fencing champion and general co-ordinator of Rome 2024, Diana Bianchedi, "challenged" her daughter Giulia  with the foil, and Fiona May, an athletics champion also in charge of athletes’ relations, was presented together with her daughter Larissa.  Then came the Rome 1960 Gold medal winner (for boxing), Nino Benvenuti, and the winner of Athens 2004 (for the marathon), Stefano Baldini.  “We want to create the biggest celebration of sports ever organised”, added Montezemolo, “we want to remove any element that does not place sport at the centre of the project: sport, ethics, competition, passion.  Sport is the greatest tool for uniting the world.”

The Vice President of the Italian Paralympics Organising Committee, Luca Pancalli (See slides), recollected that Rome 1960 was “also the home of the first Paralympics”.  With regards to the file for candidacy, he made an assurance that "We have set ourselves some fixed objectives”.  Among these, think about a sustainable transport connecting all the sites, so that even after the games this can be enjoyed by the whole community.  Secondly is the regeneration of, in particular, the peripheral areas.   The third objective sees the recovery of the existing sites, and the building of temporary sites to avoid the so called “cathedrals in the desert”.

On the other hand it was Malagò and Bianchedi who described the venues and the cluster that would host the various disciplines.  In the words of the President (click here to see the slides of the speech) "In addition to Rome there are 10 cities involved with the football tournaments.   The choices made for the games, and the choice of Cagliari for sailing, will involve the whole of Italy as these cities are connected to each other by plane or high speed train.  A strong feature of Cagliari is that it is next to a large oasis.  The environmental component is central to the candidature of Rome, and of the country as a whole.   I thank you, just stay close and help us to do these things with passion.”

The music from the Oscar winning Ennio Morricone will be the soundtrack of the Olympic dream of Rome on the occasion of the IOC in September 2017. "I am that will accompany the presentation in Lima for the final challenge." The show at Palazzo dei Congressi was brought to a close by the images of another Oscar prize winner, film director Paolo Sorrentino, taken from the film “The Great Beauty”, together with the performances of soprano Olivia Salvadori and of Castellitto: Rome demonstrated to have all the credentials to aim for victory, both through the arts and through sport.