Monday, September 14, Rome will host the Third Edition of Italian Sport Worldwide Day, the initiative promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation that for three years has celebrated sport as an instrument of diplomacy and promotion of the country's system.
The day will be inaugurated by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, together with the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi. An institutional presence that confirms the growing role attributed to so-called "sports diplomacy" in the Farnesina's action, which in recent years has made this day a fixed appointment in the Italian diplomatic calendar, replicated every year in over 300 diplomatic offices, including embassies, consulates and cultural institutes scattered around the world.
The theme chosen for the 2026 edition looks to the near future of Italian sport: the sea and water sports, with particular attention to sailing and swimming. Not a random choice, given that last year's edition was dedicated to mountains and sea in view of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and the Mediterranean Games in Taranto, while this year attention shifts to one of the most anticipated events of the next international sports season: the America's Cup, which in 2027 will stop for the first time in history in Italy.
As official sources recall, Naples will indeed be the host city for the thirty-eighth edition of the America's Cup, with the world's oldest and most prestigious sailing competition scheduled between spring and summer of that year. The match race, according to what reported by the organizers, will take place from July 10 to 18, 2027 in the waters of the Neapolitan gulf.
Precisely in view of this appointment, the Rome event will dedicate a specific segment to the presentation of the America's Cup, illustrating to those present the sporting, economic and image value that the event will bring with it for Italy as a whole.
Representatives from the sports, business and diplomatic worlds will participate in the day, as well as members of the press, in a context designed to foster opportunities for discussion and networking among the various actors in the system. The proceedings will conclude with a reception.
The first two editions of the event were hosted at Villa Madama, where in 2024 the Farnesina had presented the initiative for the first time as part of a strategic vision according to which, as underlined on that occasion, "growing sport means growing Italy." A principle that continues to guide this third edition as well, in the year preceding the long-awaited Italian debut of the America's Cup.
