Here are a few notes about roller skating in Italy.
Please note that these are my personal observations, and they are only intended
to be a simple introduction to a topic that is
so vast, that to cover it fully would require a long
and painstaking analysis.
Organized Roller Skating
Roller skating is a well-enough organized sport in Italy,
and in some ways it is an important and popular sport.
STRUCTURED GOVERNING BODY:
There is an organization called the
Federazione Italiana Hockey e Pattinaggio
(FIHP),
which is the governing body for hockey, speedskating,
and artistic skating in Italy.
This federation is the top organizational structure for
many associations and teams (currently more than 1100, and you
can find details in the new
associations database
on my site), and many athletes who
are well-known throughout the world, especially speed
skaters and artistic roller skaters, two sports that
are appreciated all over the world.
A few of the most known skaters are Massimiliano
Presti and Ippolito Sanfratello (speedskaters) and
Luca D'Alisera (artistic skater), and there are many others.
IMPORTANT SKATE INDUSTRY:
Italy has some some of the most
well-known and highly respected skate (or skate related)
manufacturers in the world, including
Boen,
Dalbello/Spin,
Exydo,
Fila,
Hypno,
Kemell,
ROXA,
Roces,
and
Tecnica,
among others.
On the other side, most of the Italian mass-media still
cover roller skating as if it was a secondary sport.
Generally speaking, if you look at any well-known
sport newspapers, you will find hundreds of
pages dedicated to soccer, cycling, skiing,
basketball and other athletics,
whereas there may be only a few lines on roller skating.
Furthermore, quite often local skating clubs, especially
those situated in small towns, have little or no funding,
and the continuation of the club depends on the
hard work of volunteers and the passion of the coaches
and supporters. It can be very difficult, sometimes, to
find venues for training and events.
Roller hockey seems to be an exception to this situation,
and in particular rink hockey, which is an important
sport in Italy (even if considered a minor sport by many people).
There are two levels of championships,
A1 and A2, and teams are well-enough sponsored.
Rink hockey has many followers in Italy, especially in
Novara, which won the A1 Italian Championships 30 times!
Recreational Skating
Inline skating for fitness and recreation is becoming more and
more popular in Italy. Some towns even have regularly, or
almost regularly scheduled
group skates, as in many other parts of the world.
Sometimes these are a little more organized, such as in
Turin in Northern Italy, and sometimes they are
less organized and more informal.
Aggressive skating is also becoming popular, and there are
some skate parks where these skaters can practice their tricks.
On the one hand, there are many periphery areas in Italy, where inline and roller
skating is quite rare, and skaters will attract attention
as an unusual site. On the other hand, there are other periphery
areas with strong and famous artistic and speed teams.
The growing popularity of recreational inline skating in Italy
has greatly contributed to the popularity of roller skating in
general, and particularly competitive speed skating, which is
nowadays done exclusively on inline skates. Artistic skating, however,
is still done almost exclusively on quad (conventional) roller
skates, as in most other parts of the world.
Road Skating
It is not currently legal to skate on public streets in Italy.
The current regulations set in the so called
Nuovo Codice della strada
(rules of the road about vehicles circulating on the roads)
expressly forbid the use of the roller skates on the roads of
Italy, and people can be fined if they do not respect those rules.
This will probably change in the future, because the IX Commission
'della Camera' (one of the main bodies of the Italian Government)
Commissione Trasporti, has proposed
some modifications to the vehicle code with regard
to roller skates.
Italian roller skaters hope that the above Commission
will conclude the vehicle code modifications
soon in a way that will benefit rollers, and allow
them to freely skate on the roads (even if it is within
certain limits and rules).
Unfortunately, at the moment, the regulations are still the
same. Here is an example of the interesting
things that can happen when these rules are still in effect:
"Ecological Sundays" in Italy are special holidays
when no cars are permitted on the roads.
On one of the first car-free holidays this year, in January of 2000,
many people were skating in the Park of Monza (a famous
and large park in Northern Italy),
assuming that there would be no problem with the vehicle
code, since no cars were permitted on the street that day.
Instead, many of them who had only planned to spend a healthy Sunday
outdoors were fined for violating the vehicle code!
In the past, it has not been legal to skate on most bicycle paths
in Italy, however this is changing, and some towns are in the
process of changing their laws to open bike paths to roller
skaters (as in Prato della Valle, Padova).
Where People Skate in Italy
INDOOR SKATING:
Even though skating in the streets is not legal in Italy, there
are many places to skate. All over the country, even in
periphery small towns, there are rinks and sport complexes
where it is possible to skate. Sometimes skaters, especially
artistic skaters, will skate in a gymnasium when there
are no alternatives.
SPEED EVENTS:
However, even though there are many roller skating rinks
around the country, not all of them are considered good
enough (meaning they may not meet 100% of the requirements)
for national or international speed skating events.
Often these events will take place in the roads, and special
approval has to be received from the authorities.
One example of such an event,
is the
Rome Roller Marathon in the streets of the capital city.
BIKE PATHS AND PARKS:
Italy does have some bike paths, and
quite often near towns there are 'sports areas'
where it would be possible to go roller skating,
but unfortunately, as said before, the
law currently does not permit skating in those areas.
SKATE PARKS:
There are also some skate parks which are mainly used by
aggressive skaters.
As mentioned before, Italy has great speed skaters and artistic
skaters, and a very strong roller hockey program, but
A great 'slice' of Italy's inline skaters are amateurs who skate for
fitness and recreation.
In Summary
In summary, the skaters of Italy do hope that the so
much coveted changes to the 'Codice della Strada'
will happen soon. They
should have been completed in March of 2000, but they
are still in progress.
Inline skating is becoming more and more
popular in Italy, even though it is always
subject to the ups and downs of fashion.
The fact that there are so many passionate skaters
and technicians, in all specialties,
and at all levels, will contribute
the continuing growth of this interesting sport,
notwithstanding the difficulties.
My personal response to some of the above mentioned points,
was to design and develop a Web site that is
completely dedicated to Italian Roller Skating:
ItalianSkating.com. Unfortunately, that site
has never received any support
from the Official Federation but it's the actual
meeting point of thousands of Italian Skaters who
continuously send me their information, notes,
reviews, messages etc.
Giuseppe Varriale