It was not our intention to cause controversy, but since the Taranto Municipal Administration is committed to establishing the truth of the facts, it is our duty to contribute to this.
Stating that the delay in the timing and procedures identified by the competent authorities for the use of the PalaMazzola prevented our club from planning its participation in the Serie A2 men’s volleyball championship within the timeframe and with the technical and organizational aspects appropriate and consistent with the importance of the aforementioned championship and the expectations of the club and volleyball fans in our area, simply means that the approval of the concession regulations for municipal sports facilities, including the PalaMazzola, during the city council meeting of May 18, 2026, was a late move in allowing us to build a Serie A2 team capable of participating and competing with the other teams that had built and signed their own contracts in time.
It is important to emphasize that, despite being significantly late, we also made a technical attempt, but without the slightest satisfactory results.
Regarding discussions with the Municipality of Taranto, they can be traced to only two meetings with General Manager Dr. Marco Lesto. The first, on April 30th, was requested by Dr. Michelangelo Giusti, to which all sports clubs interested in using the PalaMazzola were invited. During this meeting, he specifically asked whether the Municipality would be able to issue the required registration form granting the use of the PalaMazzola playing field for official championship matches by the championship registration deadline, as per the FIPAV and Lega Pallavolo Serie A regulations.
The General Manager’s response was negative, as the arena was not yet available to the Municipality of Taranto. Furthermore, he suggested that the PalaMazzola would initially be used by the end of December, and then, if there were more stringent requests, by the end of October. This would have been the case, had there been no unforeseen events.
In the second meeting with the General Director, again on May 13, he informed the President and Vice President that the city council would approve the regulations for the concession of sports facilities on May 18 and that the municipality was developing options for temporary management following the return of the facilities after the conclusion of the Mediterranean Games, pending the completion of the tender for the final award.
At that meeting, it was reiterated that the timeline was now extremely tight and that it would be difficult to resume a technical and organizational discussion hampered by delays. This was especially true considering that the General Director had been informed in advance that, should this situation persist, we would not be able to formalize registration for the championship. Furthermore, in the event of difficulties, registration cannot be formalized in a timely manner (June 3, 2026, at 12:00 PM) and significant financial penalties will be imposed if registration is not formalized in a timely manner.
After these discussions, we have had no further news or discussions. We have received no guarantees, either implicit or explicit. Furthermore, if the Municipal Administration had acted in this way, the procedures would have had to be formal and direct. This never happened, nor were any logistical solutions of any kind proposed in any form.
We have only encountered silence and absence.
Businesses and sports, in particular, need concrete actions, not generic good intentions.
Tonio Bongiovanni
