A NIGHT OF LEGACY IN 2024: PASSIONS
Disruptive, kaleidoscopic, and all-encompassing…Passion drives Italian history. On Saturday 7th June an event organised by the Promemoria Group will be full of these traits. We can’t wait to celebrate as part of the Gruppo Archivi Biellesi and exhibit FILA’s history.
“As long as one has passions, one will not cease to discover the world,” said Cesare Pavese in Il mestiere di vivere – his biography written between 1935 and 1950 and published posthumously.
His words still resonate today, particularly when referring to Archivissima – the National Festival of Archives. Taking place from June 6th to 9th, the event presents a packed programme of initiatives linked to current archival practices in Italy. The 2024 edition is titled ‘Passions’, and it is an opportunity to discover important past events and the men and women who drove them.
The colour red guides us through the most exciting stories in the FILA archive.
Our first story takes place on December 19th 1976 when the Italian national tennis team faced Chile in the Davis Cup final. At that time, the South American country was going through one of the darkest moments in modern history: In 1973 Commander Augusto Pinochet staged a coup d’état and quickly established a bloody dictatorship. The venue chosen for the Davis Cup final was the Estadio Nacional, where dissidents were often tortured. Over forty thousand people lost their lives in this authentic theatre of horrors.
Adriano Panatta – at the time sponsored by FILA along with Paolo Bertolucci – was convinced that the match was an opportunity to send an important message to the world. He requested red polo shirts from FILA. Panatta and Bertolucci wore them on the court at the start of the doubles match as a statement against repression and in memory of those who defended their ideals to their death. Chile asks for disqualification: in the end, Italy won a Davis Cup, a feat that was not recognised sufficiently at the time but whose revolutionary significance resonates today. it is remembered in Mimmo Calopresti’s documentary La maglietta rossa (2009) along with Una squadra – a 2021 series that marked Domenico Procacci’s directorial debut.
Red is the colour that coats the metal of Ferrari racing cars and Ducati motorbikes. FILA collaborated with both in 2002, and from this love affair clothes inspired by speed and shoes that hug the asphalt (like those worn in 2003 by Michael Schumacher) were born.
The following year, FILA’s long love affair with the mountains was renewed with a return to FISI (Italian Winter Sports Federation). World champion Giorgio Rocca led a new generation of skiers and slalomists united in fire-coloured uniforms. Finally, the recent sponsorship of L.R. Vicenza, a team with a centuries-old tradition, confirms the brand’s support of young athletes by dressing them in scarlet uniforms with an urban flavour.
These and many other stories will be told tomorrow, Friday 7 June, during the Night of the Archives – the main event of Archivissima 2024. It will mark the return of the Gruppo Archivi Biellesi, the network that connects Fondazione FILA Museum with Archivio Storico Banca Sella, Casa Zegna, Fondazione Sella, IISS Eugenio Bona, Maglificio Maggia and MeBO – the Menabrea Botalla Museum.
This exceptional evening will unfold at MeBO, where each institution will exhibit documents, artefacts and objects related to its exciting heritage. The temporary exhibition will be accompanied by a performance that will activate the exhibition and a group buffet.
The event takes place from 19:00 to 22:30. Find out how to be part of it on our social networks!
