The Artemis Mission brings Ferrero to the side of The Dark Side of the Moon, and the memory of Pietro, who disappeared in South Africa, becomes even more poignant. Adding to the discontent caused by the debacle of Gattuso's national team, the nadir of national sport, which already in 2011 had seen the "Divine Ponytail" as the snubbed restorer, is the nadir. "No prophet in his own country"... Gentile, Tardelli, Galli, and countless other underrated prophets could echo Baggio.
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Current events always provide food for interesting debate (at least for us...). In the space of a few days, Bosnia and Herzegovina swept aside Italy by four penalties to one after a 1-1 draw after extra time, and some interesting behind-the-scenes stories have emerged, intimately connected to:
- Third consecutive failure to participate in the World Championships and in 2026 they would have been much more widespread than the Milan Cortina Olympics considering the vastness of the America involved (United States plus Canada plus Mexico);
- Nutella went… out of this world because it was filmed while wandering inside the Orion Capsule during the Artemis mission that brought three men (Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Gregory Wiseman) and a woman (Christina Koch) from the unknown side of the Moon, “The Dark Side of The Moon”, as the incomparable Pink Floyd titled their best-selling album;
- Federica Brignone & Co. returned the Italian flag to President Sergio Mattarella after the fabulous Made in Italy success at the Winter Games, which marked the central two weeks of a February to be remembered for those 10, 6, and 14 medals: 30 in total, including gold, silver, and bronze. That doesn't even include the Olympics for special athletes.
There's as much as you want.
Bosnia has effectively swept away the Italian Football Federation, starting at the top: President Gabriele Gravina, team leader Gianluigi Buffon, and his spin-off, coach Gennaro Gattuso: some reluctant, some offended, and some whining. Minister Andrea Abodi was certainly not gentle with those responsible for the expedition, which nearly failed against Northern Ireland (had he said Brazil...) and then irreparably sank into the lowest group of the Zenica Hell.
"Bye-bye Italy," they sang around the world. What a humiliation! This time, there's no need to rely on the Ecuadorian referee Byron Moreno to get home: we're not even leaving. The winter of Italian football has ended badly, and Gianna Nannini's "Magical Nights" will be awaited for at least another four years.
Having said that "everything says Conte," meaning that coach Antonio could leave Napoli to return to the national team; adding that the Carletto Ancelotti option is fading because the Emilian is ready to extend his contract with Brazil through 2030; and concluding that the rehashed story of Roberto Mancini, who betrayed Italy for petrodollars, would only anger most people; thus, two "hilarious" moments are thrown into the public eye.
- The newspaper the Republic It reveals the contents of Gabriele Gravina's hearing at the Culture and Many Other Matters Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, which never took place because it was first postponed and then rendered useless by his forced resignation. Politics was in the dock, that… politics that we are careful not to write with a capital "P."
- Il Gazzettino.it dusts off the project prepared by Roberto Baggio to relaunch Italian football, which the "system" initially opposed and then allowed to slide into oblivion;
In our endless experience at Gazzetta and once we opened a communications and event planning agency (sporting and otherwise), we had the opportunity to meet both Gravina, back when he was directing football traffic in Castel di Sangro, and Baggio, of whom we cherish fond memories, including one of the number 10 shirts he wore with the national team at the World Cup—a double-faced Baggio, between the miracle of Boston and the sporting tragedy of Pasadena, with the penalty kicked high over the crossbar in the final against Brazil. We have the utmost respect for both the federation president and "Divine Ponytail."
Since it's legitimate to judge (and Gattuso's 2026 national team performance was even more tragic than the Rose Bowl penalty in 1994), but even more so, it's absolutely essential to be proactive at such a delicate stage, let's summarize the points that Gravina would have thoroughly illustrated to the Chamber: the low percentage of Italians and young players on the pitch, the average age of the players makes Serie A a league for old men, foreign players play 68% of the available minutes, only 89 players eligible for the national team (10 of them goalkeepers) out of the 284 who have played at least 30 minutes per match, Italy ranks last in Europe in investment in youth development, and so on with an endless series of technical evaluations, from sprinting with the ball to dribbling, etc., to underline how all the comparisons place our top league in 49th place out of the 50 (!) monitored.
And more.
Rather than analyzing the past, it is important to look for the turning point in Baggio's year-long study, which we cite in full in his 2011 index because:
“The dossier was much more than a technical report: it was a comprehensive project to modernize the system, inspired by the models of countries like Spain, France, and Germany.
Among the key points:
- New coach training: more rigorous selection, structured study paths, and greater attention to educational as well as technical skills.
- Capillary scouting: Italy divided into 100 districts, with federal observers responsible for constantly monitoring the territory.
- National Digital Archive: Creation of databases and video platforms to track the development of young footballers.
- Advanced technical assessments: tests to measure coordination, ball control, and football intelligence, overcoming the obsession with physicality.
- Permanent study center: collaboration with universities and researchers to introduce innovation and data analysis.
- Centrality of values: education, responsibility and sporting culture as pillars of youth growth”.
And here Baggio's penalty doesn't go over the crossbar, but it sinks into the soft underbelly of sporting politics that completely engulfs it and makes it... disappear.
And then there are a lot of why questions.
Why marginalize Claudio Gentile with his wealth of knowledge after his successful experiences with the minor national teams at both the European Championships and the Olympics? After so many promises, the Italian Football Federation left him in the lurch forever, and he devoted himself to endless bike excursions on every shore of Lake Como, so dear to Alessandro Manzoni and... George Clooney.
Why not listen to the recommendations of Filippo Galli, who has worked with young people on enlightening journeys?
Why not listen to the most recent outcry from Marco Tardelli, who on X (formerly Twitter) tweets with very tense vocal cords: “Players and coaches are asking to be head of the Football Federation? Where were they until now? …the problem isn't the foreigners: they're everywhere in Europe. The problem is the structures.” And perhaps even Paolo Maldini and Demetrio Albertini have had a few coffees go down the wrong way, in addition to those calling for the reduction of 2 teams in Serie A and Serie B, reducing the number from 20 to 18 for each tournament. Perhaps the greatest problems lie in the hugely expanded minor leagues.
Having said that Federica Brignone piloted the blue bus to the Quirinale Palace, where she confessed to Sergio Mattarella that she had found special motivation for rebirth thanks in part to being chosen as the flag bearer for Milan Cortina 2026—and many thought her role at the Games was consummated with that appearance in the Opening Ceremony parade—of the Italian flag handed to her by the President himself. We close our "seen and seen again" appointment with that jar of Nutella that slipped from Christina Koch's hands while tidying up the Orion spacecraft after breakfast.
What a great ad for the house of Alba! April 18, 2026, marks the fifteenth sad anniversary of the passing of Pietro, one of two descendants, along with Giovanni, of the enlightened Michele Ferrero. Pietro was taken by a sudden illness while cycling on the roads of South Africa, where his family had established a major branch of the food company that, year after year, climbed to the top of world records. Pietro oversaw the development of the products invented by his father Michele and launched over time, having effectively inherited the reins of the company: he was the guiding light of everything decided in Alba (Cuneo). Giovanni continued to live in Brussels and, among other things, enjoyed writing cookbooks featuring many traditional Italian dishes, accompanied—provocatively, but not entirely—by a glass of lemon or peach Estathe, depending on the delicacy.
Pietro was a fan of the Giro d'Italia, which he sponsored because the product was being launched right around the time of the Giro d'Italia (May) to ensure it would be well-publicized as the hottest season approached. He would often arrive by helicopter in the Giro d'Italia area, unload the bike he intended to test there, and climb the mountains that would soon be attacked by the champions. And how curious he was... "What chainring does that bike have? Do extensions that turn the handlebars into bullhorns really provide an advantage when pedaling hard...? Why did that rider attack on a section where he could potentially gain little advantage over his opponent, who he would then bring to his knees..."
Pietro's questions are well in mind. And we recalled them in the brief verbal greeting we gave in his memory at the start of the second stage of the 2011 Giro d'Italia, the one marking the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. We were in Alba. It was May 8th. Pietro had passed away in Camps Bay ten days earlier. The Ferrero family, through Ambassador Francesco Paolo Fulci, who represented them worldwide, had invited us to say a few words in memory of their son, who had passed away at just 48 years old. We did so with a lump in our throats, and with Marco Pinotti, wearing the pink jersey, at our side as the leading light of his team, at the finish line in Turin the day before, at the end of the inaugural team time trial of that Giro that was won by Alberto Contador, who was then ousted for doping concerns arising elsewhere (the Tour), and thus handed over to Michele Scarponi (second), also carried off by the most bitter fate.
RIP, Pietro. How we would have loved to watch together that free commercial for your Nutella that wandered around the spaceship and took the human race to the farthest point of the moon, yes: the one that Pink Floyd had… “seen” before anyone else on March 1, 1973, that is, 53 years before Hansen, Gover, Koch, and Wiseman live on air and us poor humans. tout court deferred.
