Valerio Bianchini angers a'other fans
While there is talk in Rome, and in the control rooms of Italian basketball, about the landing of at least one new entity in the capital (Vanoli has already sold the sports title), there is also basketball being played with Virtus and Luiss playing in the play offs to move up to Serie A2. “I would be very happy if Virtus 1960 was promoted,” said Valerio Bianchini, interviewed by Il Messaggero. “It would be a match for the future and could be a development team where they could send players to mature for a year. Phrases disliked by some Virtus fans who, like their executives, absolutely do not want a satellite role in the panorama of Italian basketball. In Rome, the Vate coached and won the Scudetto, the Champions Cup and the Intercontinental Cup.
The president of Virtus Roma 1960, Massimiliano Pasqualini, responded to the rumors of a possible ancillary role for the Capitoline club with a hard-nosed face: “We are history and we want to honor it on the court. I don’t understand the logic of some choices, we are about to announce the entry of an important foreign partner and a project that wants to bring Virtus back to Serie A soon, where it belongs. The rest is not sport, but buying and selling far from the tradition and spirit of belonging that we are trying to revive in Rome,” he told Corriere della Sera. It is a message that also reflects the sentiment of the historic HCL fan, who is convinced that a team in the capital is already there and should be supported.
The framework of facilities makes it even more complicated. Virtus and Luiss currently share the Palazzetto dello Sport, the PalaEur, but next season the facility will only be available for six days, not to mention the ambitions of Roma Women’s Volleyball. A logistical conundrum destined to be further aggravated if two or even three high-level realities were really to coexist in Rome.
On the Vanoli front, president Aldo Vanoli explained the reasons for a painful choice: “The decision did not mature lightly, but with great care and difficulty, aware of the significance that this passage entails for the Cremonese territory and for all the people who have accompanied our path in these years.” Vanoli recalled how several solutions had been explored in recent months to keep the company in Cremona, but that none had materialized: “Instead, an expression of interest by important foreign investors has materialized, who have expressed a willingness to develop our project in the city of Rome with an ambitious and long-term vision.” The Federal Council deemed the application to have the requisites of merit, making its acceptance conditional on compliance with the obligations set forth in the licensing manual for participation in the 2026/2027 Serie A championship.
It should not be forgotten that Bianchini, in previous weeks, had already ended up at the center of controversy for some of his public outings on the issue of franchise transfers. First he had ironically compared the arrival of basketball in Rome to the “Rape of the Sabine Women” of Romolian memory, then he had openly defended the mechanism of transfers, recalling that “the clubs that should allow the transfer to another location would be richly reimbursed.” Words that had triggered the furious reaction of Trieste’s fans, except that they were then partially softened by the Bergamasque technician, who had wanted to clarify how his thoughts were also moved by concern for the fate of the Giuliana square: “It would be terrible. We are talking about a historic square, which has passion and almost 5,000 season ticket holders.”
