Black Basket Castel Volturno, with Simone Carolei, published by ContrastoBooks

On Sunday afternoon we celebrate together the release of Simone Carolei’s first book, a book that is important from so many perspectives, reminding us of the importance of community building and the value of sports in changing the rules of the game, especially when the game is the right of citizenship.

It’s four o’ clock in the afternoon. Destiny, Karim and King are walking along a crumbling pavement on the Via Domitiana. The sun is still blazing, the cars speed past them. Today is practice day. They stop at the usual spot, in the shade of a faded billboard, and wait for the minibus driven by their coach, Massimo Antonelli, former basketball star of Virtus Bologna. He’s the one who decided to found Tam Tam Basketball in Castel Volturno eight years ago. A club, a project, a dream. “In America, they call it the Giving Back Philosophy: successful players return something to a community in need.” He has the height of a basketball player and the kind face of a gentle giant. He talks about basketball like someone in love. Castel Volturno is a mass of unauthorized housing, abandoned hovels and rubbish. Antonelli sums it up as “rust and rubble, decay and salt deposits, but the sea is stunning.”