04/06/2010

Venice No Longer Italian Candidate to Host 2020 Olympic Games

Venice will not be Italy's candidate to host the 2020 Olympic games.

On 20 May, Rome was chosen instead, to the anger of the president of the Regione, Luca Zaia, who said that the institutions and businesses of Venice and the Veneto had collaborated well over their proposal.

Renato Brunetta, the defeated candidate in the recent mayoral elections for Venice and a minister in the government, said that Venice should have offered itself only for the Olympic water sports. Gianni de Michelis, who as foreign minister had fought hard but failed to get the 1990 World Expo for Venice, said that the city should now concentrate on aiming to be European Capital of Culture in 2019.