The conference “Sport and Peace: The Olympic Truce” was held recently at the University of Padua, as part of the General Course “Peace and Nonviolent Transformation of Conflicts.” The conference was organized in collaboration with RUniPAce and the UNESCO Chair by Professor Marco Mascia, President of the University Center for Human Rights “Antonio Papisca,” and coordinated by Dr. Antonella Stellitano, a member of the Italian Society of Sports History. The conference was dedicated to exploring the connection between sports, peacebuilding, and the protection of human rights. Representatives of sports institutions and athletes from the Olympic and Paralympic worlds also spoke at the conference, along with representatives of sports institutions and athletes from the Olympic and Paralympic worlds, as well as lawyer Luca Tosini, Founding Partner of Gas Sales Bluenergy Volley Piacenza.
The initiative offered an opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion on the value of the Olympic Truce as a symbolic and operational tool for fostering dialogue between peoples, international cooperation, and the dissemination of a culture of nonviolence. During the meeting, the role of sport as a privileged environment for promoting inclusion, mutual respect, and positive conflict resolution was highlighted.
Particular attention was paid to the experiences of athletes committed to promoting human rights, whose testimonies helped highlight the potential of sport as a vehicle for awareness-raising and social change.
Luca Tosini: “Sport has enormous potential for raising public awareness. Every sports professional has the privilege and responsibility to contribute. We, as a club, are also aware of this role. We don’t presume to reach global targets, but we feel a duty to share the values we’ve learned through our competitive experiences. Respect for our opponents, acknowledging differences, and the ability to accept defeat are principles that society should embrace, not with the goal of eliminating conflict, but to learn to navigate it constructively, enabling coexistence before it can escalate. Our experience in Sitting Volleyball, beyond the sporting rewards it has brought us, has profoundly enriched us. It has allowed us to understand and appreciate an extraordinary discipline, capable of embodying some of the most authentic values of sport.”
