A most welcome visit ahead of tomorrow’s UEFA Euro 2020 opener took place today. Undersecretary to the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers in charge of sports, Valentina Vezzali, met with the Italy national football team at their basecamp in Rome.

After being received by FIGC president Gabriele Gravina, the Government’s representative in the world of sport met with the current Azzurri group in its entirety, including her fellow Jesi (Marche) native, head coach Roberto Mancini.

 “I hope to have conveyed my Olympic spirit to the entire group,” the Undersecretary told the media present. “I have felt so much desire from the players to get out onto that pitch, and especially with spectators present. Mancini? We’re both from Jesi, so we’re a real force together.”

During her visit, the Federation presented Vezzali with an Italy shirt bearing the number 9. Nine represents the number of Olympic medals won during her illustrious career as a fencer: six golds, one silver and two bronze throughout the course of five editions of the Games. Vezzali is, in fact, the most decorated Italian Olympian ever and carried the flag at the Games in London in 2012.