Overview
- Organisers and ANSA report final preparations are complete ahead of the opening ceremony on Friday, August 21, which President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are scheduled to attend.
- The Games are billed as the biggest edition with more than 4,000 athletes from 26 countries competing for about 2,500 medals across roughly 286 events, though the exact number of sports is disputed (organisers: 33, ANSA: 30).
- The Italian government provided about €275 million for the project, including roughly €168 million for Taranto, and credits the commissioner Massimo Ferrarese with accelerating works without exceeding the planned budget.
- Forty-five facilities were built or renovated for the Games, including nine stadiums, 20 indoor arenas, two Olympic pools and four athletics tracks spread across Taranto and 20 neighbouring Puglian municipalities.
- Organisers present the event as a mix of sport, culture and diplomacy highlighted by the Pope’s Angelus call for peace, expanded media coverage by ANSA with partners EPA and AFP, and expected local boosts to tourism and civic infrastructure.