05/10/2009

2020 Olympics: Venice in bid to rival Rome

Antonino John Scoppettuolo, The Roman Forum

Minutes following the announcement of Rio De Janeiro's assignment of the 2016 Olympics and with president Lula's tears of joy still drying, Italy's politicians took partisan party politics to the next level by placing bets on Rome and Venice as candidates for the 2020 round of the games.

Mayor of Venice Massimo Cacciari was quick of the mark in hinting that games hosted between the Venice, Padua and Treviso mainland triangle would prove "a great opportunity for development". With Rome clearly a contender in the running, Cacciari was also eager to stress that it's about time other candidate cities are given a chance: "it would be a great if we could secure the spotlight for Italy exactly 60 years after the 1960 Rome Olympics".

As much as they were unexpected the mayor's statements sparked an endorsement stampede by leading members of the current government; interior minister Roberto Maroni, minister for tourism Michela Vittoria Brambilla and minister for the public sector Renato Brunetta - leading members of the government's pro-north echelons -all voiced opinions favouring Venice over Rome.

Rome's response was uncharacteristically bipartisan with former and current mayors Walter Veltroni and Gianni Alemanno agreeing on Rome's inherent organisational and logistic advantages. "The whole process would benefit by prior agreement on a single candidate" agreed to at the national level, submitted Veltroni; "if we fail now, Italy's next chance is likely to come along in 2085!" he added.

Current mayor Alemanno was adamant "our only shot at hosting the 2020 Olympics is if Rome is put up as the shared candidate. Away from Rome's political circles, critics of the Venice option point to the fact that its appreciable lack of sports facilities and the need for the games to be jointly hosted by three local administrations are not quite the ingredients of a successful candidacy.