Students fill Naples seafront as MultiSport Village opens alongside America's Cup
Three thousand students descended on the Villa Comunale in Naples this morning, trying their hand at 30 different sports in a free village that runs through Friday. The #BeActive MultiSport Village, the flagship national event of the European Week of Sport, opened its gates at 9am and will welcome the public daily until 18:00 through 27 September.
Rackets, canoes, judo mats, a climbing wall and curling strips now sit among the plane trees of the historic seafront park, just steps from where America's Cup preliminary regattas are underway. Italy's Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, and Sport e Salute president Marco Mezzaroma inaugurated the village alongside Olympic and Paralympic ambassadors including Francesca Lollobrigida, Manuel Bortuzzo, Pino Maddaloni and Sandro Cuomo.
Thirty disciplines, no pressure
This year's edition carries the slogan "#BeActive Your Way: No pressure, no judgement" — a message meant to lower barriers for beginners. Students from Neapolitan schools moved between stations staffed by technicians from national sports federations, sampling everything from martial arts on tatami to an area dedicated to seamanship.
The sailing section, developed with the Italian Sailing Federation, offered knot-tying workshops, simulators for Optimist, wing foil and windsurf, virtual reality viewers, eSailing stations and trial runs at sea with RS Feva boats.
Abodi told reporters the event was deliberately tied to the America's Cup to give substance to "sport for all," as referenced in Article 33 of the Italian Constitution. "Seeing thousands of Campanian boys and girls move, try 30 sports disciplines, smile side by side with technicians and Olympic and Paralympic athletes is the most beautiful demonstration of what the European Week of Sport means," he said.
Mezzaroma echoed the sentiment: "This is proof of how sport knows how to unite. Thousands of students opened the village with us. This is what the Government asks us to do: bring sport into people's daily lives, in Naples and throughout Italy."
Naples anchors nationwide push
The Naples village is one of roughly 1,000 initiatives across Italy during the European Week of Sport, coordinated by the Department for Sport at the Prime Minister's Office and implemented by Sport e Salute.
Similar events have unfolded nationwide. Viterbo hosted a multi-sport village alongside its Half Marathon, with panels on European funding, artificial intelligence in sport, and school nutrition. A #BeActive Night on 26 September featured evening activities in Genova, Cologno Monzese, Trapani, Pomezia, Rieti and Guidonia through the Sport Illumina network.
The grassroots union UISP organized events from San Benedetto del Tronto to Aosta, while Special Olympics Italia joined the campaign to promote sport open to all abilities. At European level, the initiative has drawn more than 118 million participants across 433,000 activities since its 2015 launch.
For residents in Naples, the village remains open daily through Friday with no registration required — a rare chance to sample curling, climbing or canoeing without cost, just opposite the America's Cup docks.
