VITERBO CELEBRATES ARTISTIC SWIMMING

It was a day of celebration in the name of sport and social inclusion at the municipal swimming pool in Viterbo. The Italian Swimming Federation (FIN) and Roma 2022 organised an artistic swimming festival as part of the project 'Sport for all people', a campaign designed with the Latium Region in preparation for the European Aquatics Championships, that will take place in Rome from 11 to 21 August. The event, which was held on Saturday afternoon in front of a large audience, has involved artistic swimming clubs of the Region and a number of organisations that are very active in sports programmes for people with autism and other rare syndromes.

Among the personalities who attended the event, there were the FIN provincial coordinator Generoso Calisti, and the director of the Viterbo municipal sports facility Fabrizio Frascella. Among the non-profit organisations active in social inclusion there were 'Progetto Filippine', 'BluAliké asp' and 'SIBAS', alongside the companies 'Matrix SSD', 'Villa York Sporting Club' , 'G-Sport Village' and 'Rari Nantes Nomentano'.

Carlotta Fratini's first scheduled performance in the solo was welcomed with excitement by the spectators. After an initial moment of emotional block, the young BluAliké athlete with autism syndrome was encouraged by coaches Elisa Filardo, Alessia Lucchini and Camilla De Silva, to perform the exercise with grit and courage, producing a captivating and touching performance in front of the audience. After her, other athletes performed on the programme in the individual event, in the team exercises and in the combined free exercise. At the end of the celebration, all participating athletes received a medal and a plaque was distributed to their clubs to commemorate the event. 

"It was a day of sport and inclusion," Calisti said. "In every sports facility, we see able-bodied children who train daily together with children with disabilities: we see how they help each other in small gestures and it is beautiful to witness the friendship and empathy they are able to build. This event is an a proof of this powerful relationship and being part of the Italian Swimming Federation, we want to follow this path to support sharing and inclusion under the name of sport'.