Italy is mostly known for its pasta, wine, Mafia and the always changing government. But of course there is much more which the beautiful country has to offer, especially in the field of sports. Ferrari, Valentino Rossi, Alberto Tomba and above all the reigning soccer world champion, the Italian national team “Squadra Azzurra”, that is known all around the globe.

The first Loop

When talking about sports and Italy, there is a significant part one should not miss to reflect: Windsurfing. Although Italian sailors never have been dominating the professional world tour of the PWA there are some that have made history. Cesare Cantagalli for example invented the “cheese roll”, the first ever forward loop that has opened up a new dimension to windsurfing in the late 80ies.

The famous Lake

Italy is also famous for some great windsurfing locations which put the nation in the spotlight more than once a year. It might be a surprise for one or the other, but not the hundreds of kilometres of coastline host the most famous windsurfing spots, but the mountains. A fresh water lake based in the Southern Alps, surrounded by snow-covered mountain peaks on the one hand but offering Mediterranean climate and Italian flair on the other hand is Italy’s windsurfing capital.

The small town of Torbole at Lake Garda is the venue of uncountable world championships of all classes, world cup competitions, freestyle events and much more. The extraordinary landscape, warm temperatures and last but not least the daily thermal winds “Vento” and “Ora” make this place unique. When windsurfing enthusiasts conquered Lake Garda in the 80ies one could cross the lake without getting wet because of the not ending number of windsurfing boards on the water.

After the Lakes, there come the Islands

There are some fantastic windsurf spots on the Island of Sardinia. For example Porto Pollo and other less famous locations that offer excellent wave sailing conditions. Chia in the South of the island comes up with a really good wave, and works with almost every wind direction. The West coast offers not only a beautiful scenery, but at Capo Mannu you can find the biggest wave in the Mediterranean Sea.

The second biggest island of Italy is Sicily which hosts one of the most radical spots around. It’s called Puzziteddu and is about 10 km from Marzara del Vallo on the South-west coast. It has an impressive wind consistency of 280 days of wind a year. If you visit Sicily in summer time, the straight between the Calabrian coast and Sicily provides a thermal boost with around 25 knots every day. The right spot here is Tremestieri, just 10 km South of Messina.

The Mainland

Of course the Italian mainland can also shine with some great windsurfing locations. For example the important harbour town Livorno in the region of Toscana. The coastline where the ferry boats depart to Sardinia is also known for radical surfing action, especially when the South-eastern desert wind “Scirocco” is blowing. From spring to autumn Talamone is probably the windiest place around. A strong thermal wind with 20 -25 knots is delivered here almost every day.

Also the region of Lazio near to the capital Rome offers an infinity of spots for almost any wind direction. For example with South-east winds the best spots are north of Rome: Banzaii, Sant Agostino, La central and Civitavecchia. When West wind is blowing one cannot beat the bay of Latina, good waves and great summer thermal winds.

Switching over to the Adria. In the South the Peninsula called Gargano is the most well know place among windsurfers. But if you go even further down to South there are plenty of good places like: Alimini, Santa Maria di Leuca or Porto Cesareo on the Ionian Sea. Also the northern part of the Adria can show up with some nice windsurfing destination. Termoli, probably the best spot of that area, works the best with North-eastern wind.

But let’s talk about the sailors.

Alessandra Sensini – The Team Captain

Alessandra Sensini is the only Olympic sailor that has won three medals at the past three Olympic Games. 1996 Atlanta: bronze; 2000 Sydney: gold; 2004 Athens: bronze on the Mistral One Design. She is now on her way to Beijing to score probably the 4^th medal in a row. She has the best makings for that, after she became world champion on the new Olympic one design equipment RS:X at Lake Garda/Italy last year and won in Auckland/ New Zealand in January 2008.

Actually the list of Alessandra’s titles is much longer, not to say almost endless. So it is no surprise, that she would be the perfect captain for the Italian windsurfing national team with her many years of experience in competing and her very strong discipline.

Roberto Hofmann – The Libero

He is a windsurfing icon in Italy. Wherever there is some wind blowing, he is on the water....just the pure passion. Roberto actually lives near Rome, when he is not travelling around the globe and is involved in the sales of windsurfing products. He speaks six languages and is well known as the speaker at world cup events in many countries. Short time ago he has gone back to sailing competition with great results. With his experiences and abilities Roberto would be the right Libero for the Italian windsurfing national team.

Andrea Rosati – The Multi-Talent

Andrea is a great overall sailor...every race in Italy freestyle, slalom, waves ...he is always up there. Living near Rome too, he spends the winter time in South Africa for training. Andrea is involved in the R&D with a board manufacturer and has still some good years to go on with competition sailing for Italy.

Raimondo Gasperini – The Routinier

Raimondo is now in charge of recruiting young talents. As a very experienced sailor with years and years of competing he is actually taking care of some young Brasilians. We still find him at some races, but he is spending most of the time with his talent factory or his kids. Nevertheless Raimondo could back up the team, especially the young guns.

Andrea Cucchi – The Racer

Andrea has started his own sail company a few years ago after having competed for many years especially on Lake Garda. He is known as the one and only local, who has won almost every race on the lake. Even when he spends more time in his company now instead of training on the water, he is still on a very competitive level.

Patrik Diethelm – The Shaper

Swiss born Patrik Diethelm spends most of the time around with his girl friend Karin Jaggi – who is multiple windsurfing world champion and the fastest female windsurfer – testing boards for a well known company. He is one of the fastest sailors on earth and a great slalom pilot, too. In March he gained the world speed record on a series board. Patrik is one of the most technical guys around! He could support the Italian team with his unbeatable knowledge about equipment and trimming.

Mattia Pedrani – The Young Gun

Mattia is a top freestyle sailor, even when he is actually a bit too tall for this discipline. But there is no move that Mattia is not performing. He has won the first freestyle title in Italy this year, and came second last year in the Madagascar challenge. Always a guy to keep an eye on!

To come to an end: Italy is probably the best country in the world for food-woman-windsurfing-climate-friendly people and of course soccer.

Links

Surfspots in Italy

Report about Windsurfing in Rome (German Website)

Website von Alessandra Sensini (Italian Website)

Andrea Rosati’s Profil bei der PWA

Website von Raimondo Gasperini (Italian Website)

Andrea Cucchi auf der Formula Windsurfing Class Website

Website von Patrik Diethelm

Website von Mattia Pedrani