Universiade: the torch in Naples, de Magistris first torchbearer  

The torch of knowledge, one of the symbols of the thirtieth edition of the Universiade, has arrived in Naples after a month-long journey across Italy. It traveled 2,100 kilometers from Turin—where it departed on June 4th—to Naples, passing through Lausanne, Switzerland (the headquarters of the Italian University Federation), Milan, Assisi, Rome (where it received Pope Francis' blessing in St. Peter's Square), and Matera before arriving in the five provinces of Campania; Avellino (where it received a second blessing from the Abbot of Montevergine), Benevento, Caserta, Salerno, and Naples, where it arrived today. It was carried across Italy by sports champions, as well as representatives of institutions and culture. Today, in Naples, it was welcomed by Mayor Luigi de Magistris in Piazza Municipio. It was his turn to light the torch and carry it for a hundred meters—from Palazzo San Giacomo to the Via Verdi entrance of the Galleria Umberto—before passing it to the eleven torchbearers (among them several great champions of the past, from Giuseppe Abbagnale to Franco Porzio) who are preparing to march along a 2,3 km route along the Naples seafront. The last torchbearer will be FISU President Oleg Matytsin. Tomorrow, the final meters will be inside the San Paolo Stadium, where the torch of knowledge—as is tradition at major sporting Games—will light the cauldron to mark the start of the thirtieth Universiade.