The ninth summer edition of the Trofeo CONI is set to be a record-breaking event. Sicily, with the provinces of Catania and Palermo, along with an additional venue in the Syracuse area, is ready to host Italy’s largest under-14 sports event, taking place from Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 October.

This year’s ‘mini Olympics’, organised by CONI Sicilia (led by President Sergio D’Antoni) in collaboration with CONI’s Territorial Directorate and in partnership with the Sicily Region, the Municipality of Catania, the Municipality of Palermo, and ITA Airways, will begin on 3 October with the CONI Fair Play Games, a series of multidisciplinary sports activities centred around Olympic values. The following day, Friday 4 October, the competitions will begin, and at 6.30 p.m. in Piazza dell’Università in Catania (with a live video link to the teams based in Palermo), the Opening Ceremony will take place in the presence of President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, President of the Senate Ignazio La Russa (marking the first time in history that the first and second highest offices of state will be present at the Trofeo CONI), President of the Sicily Region Renato Schifani, President of the Sicilian Regional Assembly Gaetano Galvagno, Mayor of Catania Enrico Trantino, and the leaders of Italian sport, including CONI President Giovanni Malagò, Secretary General Carlo Mornati, and Vice President Claudia Giordani. Numerous champions from the Italia Team will also be present in Catania. The torchbearers for the event will be Olympic gold medallists Rossella Fiamingo and Alberta Santuccio, who triumphed in the women’s épée team event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Other notable guests include Luigi Busà (from Avola, Sicily, Olympic karate gold medallist at Tokyo 2020), Manila Esposito (silver medallist in the artistic gymnastics team all-around and bronze medallist on beam at Paris 2024), Matteo Melluzzo (a sprinter from Syracuse, who competed at Paris 2024 and won European gold in the 4x100m relay in Rome 2024), and ‘The Shark’ of Messina, Vincenzo Nibali (winner of both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia). Also present at the ceremony will be Tina and Milo, the official mascots of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. The opening ceremony will also feature a performance by La Marionettistica dei Fratelli Napoli, founded in 1921 and considered one of the most significant expressions of Catanese-style traditional puppetry.

The following day, after the conclusion of the competitions, the Closing Ceremony will take place at Foro Italico Umberto I in Palermo (with a live video link to the teams based in Catania) at 6 p.m., during which the winning region will be announced.

The Trofeo CONI, with its “Live your Dream” slogan, is a multidisciplinary event that promotes youth participation in sport through the collaboration of the entire sporting ecosystem and the involvement of numerous sports associations. The format, strongly desired by the Italian National Olympic Committee and well received by all sporting bodies, is its main feature, a forerunner of the gender parity achieved by the IOC at Olympic level in Paris 2024.

Since its launch in 2014, thousands of young athletes have competed in territorial qualifying events to represent their regions at the National Final of the Trofeo CONI, experiencing the joy of competition, discovering new places and cultures, and nurturing their Olympic dreams. The Trofeo has also been a springboard for future champions: at the first edition in Caserta in 2014, a young Davide Di Veroli took part and won, later becoming a multiple medallist in fencing. His journey from the Trofeo CONI led him to the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires 2018, where he carried the flag and won gold, before going on to compete as part of the Italia Team at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

The National Final of the Trofeo CONI marks the culmination of a journey that begins with young athletes registered with Amateur Sports Associations (ASDs) and Amateur Sports Societies (SSDs) on the CONI National Register and affiliated with the National Sports Federations and Associated Sports Disciplines in their provinces and regions. It is a unique opportunity for growth through sport. 4500 athletes and technicians are expected to participate in Sicily, a record-breaking number compared to previous editions, representing the 21 CONI Regional Committees: among the 39 National Sports Federations and 5 Associated Sports Disciplines (another record), billiards, bowling, and cricket – the latter as a demonstration sport ahead of its inclusion in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic programme – will debut at the Trofeo CONI.

Thanks to the NRRP ‘Tourism of Roots’ project, athletes from the Italian communities abroad representing CONI delegations from Argentina, Australia (making its debut), Brazil, the United States, and Venezuela will compete, as they did last year. In the days following the Trofeo, they will remain in Sicily to explore their ancestral roots. Their participation is one of the outcomes of the Permanent Cooperation Agreement between CONI and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aimed at promoting Italian culture and sports internationally. This collaboration also includes sporting events such as the National Sports Day and the Trofeo CONI itself, reinforcing Italy’s global sporting community.

Among this year’s new initiatives is a three-year collaboration between CONI and the Agnelli Foundation, which in Sicily will involve, in addition to Fiamingo and Santuccio, Paralympic champion Rossana Pasquino, bronze medallist in the team foil event at Paris 2024. The three athletes will meet with middle school students from Catanese institutions, sharing their experiences of how they balanced their sporting careers with their education, excelling both in competition and in their studies.

Lazio leads the Trofeo CONI all-time rankings, having won in 2014 and in the last two editions, 2022 and 2023. It is followed by Piemonte (with victories in 2015 and 2018) and Veneto (2016 and 2019), while Lombardia claimed the title in 2017. Both ceremonies and select competitions from Trofeo CONI Sicilia 2024 will be broadcast on Italia Team TV (full schedule available HERE), CONI’s OTT streaming platform, which will dedicate four channels to the event.