De Laurentiis: Shaping Napoli's Next Century

Twice in a row at Patini, to be alongside the team. De Laurentiis is the protagonist of the day in Castel di Sangro, an interested spectator of the training sessions and the center of the market team that is operating these days. The number one of the Azzurri had never been seen in the first days in Abruzzo and yesterday morning he was not present at the philatelic cancellation event for the celebratory stamp of the Azzurri's championship, but only because the Napoli machine is always in motion. For a few hours, the Azzurri's organizational machine has put on the table all the ideas already initiated in recent months. In De Laurentiis's mind, there is the desire to celebrate to the fullest what is a historic milestone for the club, 100 years on August 1, 2026: it is obvious that they want to do their best on the field to perhaps win other trophies to embellish everything, but in the meantime, away from the playing field, the club must celebrate with the fans in the best way. Precisely for this reason, in De Laurentiis's ideas, there is a second cinematic product after that of the third championship, a feature film that can celebrate the long Azzurri history, perhaps choosing a narrator's voice that is dear to the fans and that can well interpret a journey of a hundred years. And maybe even a little more. An opportunity in two: on one hand, to frame a moment that will be history, on the other, finally to link the two souls of this Napoli. The one that from 1926 reaches 2004, passing through championships, difficulties, failures, then that of the De Laurentiis era, which in twenty years has managed to do everything. Starting from the third series, accumulating record after record, bringing home an Italian Super Cup, three Coppa Italia, especially two championships. And now dreams of making its voice heard in Europe too. It is obvious that in the mornings of work of De Laurentiis in Rivisondoli there is space also and above all for the market, carried out not only with Conte but also with the sporting director Manna and the CEO Chiavelli, always his right-hand man. But for the rest, there is a need to think about that stadium project that has been in the club's ideas for months now. With the difficulties of the Maradona that are evident to everyone and the desire to imagine a future elsewhere. It is the planning that dominates in Napoli's house, perhaps with the dream of leaving a "gift" to the city, a structure that is modern and futuristic, central to the ideas of relaunching a specific area of Naples and that serves as a daily home for fans. Not just on the occasion of the Azzurri's matches.