More than 300 people gathered today at the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology to attend the live conference hosted by the Mapei Sport Research Center, titled “30 Years of Mapei Sport: A Journey Through the Research Center’s Sporting Experiences—Past, Present, and Future.”
The center in Olgiate Olona (Varese) event was sold out, bringing together internationally renowned researchers in the field of sports science and top athletes linked to Mapei’s history in Milan.
Following opening remarks by Claudio Pecci, CEO and Medical Director, Veronica Squinzi and Marco Squinzi, CEOs of Mapei, and Anna Deligios representing the Varese Chamber of Commerce, Pier Augusto Stagi kicked off the proceedings, beginning with the early days of the Mapei Cycling Team. Andrea Morelli, head of the cycling division at Mapei Sport and the right-hand man of Aldo Sassi — co-founder of Mapei Sport alongside Giorgio Squinzi — opened the discussion on the innovations brought by Mapei to the world of cycling, alongside Luca Guercilena, who cut his teeth as a coach with the iconic coloured cubes and is the only Italian manager in the current World Tour, to the 2004 Athens Olympic champion and two-time world champion Paolo Bettini, to Andrea Tafi, the first Italian rider to win Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, and to Dr Massimo Testa.
We then turn to the world of football with memories of the early days of Sassuolo Calcio, featuring the club’s president Carlo Rossi, the architect of the historic promotion to Serie A and the club’s European qualification, Eusebio di Francesco (current manager of US Lecce), two icons of the Emilia-based side, Francesco Magnanelli and Simone Missiroli, sports dietetics and nutrition specialist Luca Mondazzi, and the head of Mapei Sport’s Human Performance Lab, Ermanno Rampinini.
Scientific research took centre stage during the day, thanks to unmissable presentations by Franco Impellizzeri and Aaron J. Coutts from the University of Technology Sydney, Nicola Maffiuletti from the Schulthess Clinic in Zurich, and Samuele Marcora from the University of Bologna. The 11th Aldo Sassi Research Project was presented, honouring the professor who, in 1996, decided to put the science of champions at the service of everyone, and the results obtained by Giulia Pelizzatti in her work on track training and fatigue in alpine skiing, carried out during the year of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Games at the centre which the Italian Winter Sports Federation (FISI) has relied on for 20 seasons now.
In life, as in sport, one must dare to take risks: Simona Giorgetta, member of the Mapei Board of Directors, spoke of the courage to face high-speed challenges; ocean sailor Ambrogio Beccaria, former winner of the Mini Transat and other regattas including The Transat CIC; top track and field athlete Nadia Battocletti, fresh from winning the world indoor title in the 3,000 metres and on stage with her father and coach Giuliano, who represented Co-Ver Mapei during his career; rally driver Rachele Somaschini, who recently took part in the Dakar Rally; Franco Combi, specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Federico Donghi, head of the Training Department at Mapei Sport.
To conclude a discussion on the present and future of the centre, which was attended by Sassuolo Calcio manager and 2006 World Cup winner Fabio Grosso – who was assessed by Mapei Sport during his time at Juventus and now uses data from medical examinations, laboratory tests and on-pitch assessments to help his players perform at their best – and the Neroverde Primavera manager Emiliano Bigica. Valuable contributions were made by the experienced footballer Nemanja Matić and his colleague Lana Clelland, with whom the discussion centred on international experiences and the growth of women’s sport, as well as by the CEO and General Manager of U.S. Sassuolo Calcio, Giovanni Carnevali, and Vice-President Veronica Squinzi, who recalled Mapei’s motto Never stop pedalling and the commitment to research both for the company she leads and for Mapei Sport.
Over the past 30 years, the Varese-based centre has carried out more than 200,000 assessment tests, recorded over 100,000 individual visits, supported thousands of athletes and published more than 100 scientific papers. Today, before a large and curious audience, it celebrated an important milestone, once again promoting sport as a tool for human, social and civic growth. With emotion, satisfaction and gratitude, the Mapei Sport Research Centre is ready to write further chapters in a book that still has many pages ahead of it.
