A countdown clock has gone up on the Lungomare Caracciolo in Naples, ticking down to the start of the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup next May. It stands just metres from the Race Village, which is now nearly finished.
The clock reads 241 days. The Naples Preliminary Regatta is the immediate focus, but that event doubles as a dry run for the bigger prize still to come.
A substantial lineup pushed the button together: Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi, Sport e Salute President Marco Mezzaroma and CEO Guido Nepi Molineris, Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi, Campania Region President Roberto Fico, and, representing the America's Cup Partnership, CEO Marzio Perrelli and Chairman Grant Dalton.
Minister Abodi framed the moment in broader terms than racing alone. "We are accustomed to the challenges of time," he said. "Every major sporting event has demonstrated the respect we have for time. The real challenge lies ahead. What remains will be measured objectively and will involve the cultural growth of the cities, as well as job creation; the development we envision concerns the maritime economy and applied technology, choices that primarily affect young people. This America's Cup is focused above all on them."
Diego Nepi Molineris explained the design of the clock itself, which depicts two sails meeting at the moment of a tack. "When tacking, you change, you alter your trajectory, and that is our goal: to tack in order to catch more wind in our sails and improve, and to generate the drive and strength to keep doing better," he said. "That yellow sphere is the mark, representing the goal we must reach. Today, marking the time means showing everyone that, day by day, we are leaving something wonderful for the local area."
Perrelli struck a more personal note. "We are actually already halfway there," he said. "We have been working on this for a year, and now the most important, and most enjoyable, year begins; the year we move to this city and become citizens of Naples. With each passing day, we feel more and more Neapolitan."
President Fico called it a big day for the institutions involved. "The countdown has begun; today is a great day, the result of significant work carried out by the institutions," he said. He described the build-up as a dress rehearsal that stretches well beyond tourism, touching the business ecosystem and the local enterprises that give the region its character. The aim, he said, is to involve everyone from schoolchildren and sailors through to small sports clubs, so the benefits of the event spread as widely as possible.
Mayor Manfredi took a longer view of what the clock represents. "Time is a vital asset, and we are striving to align Naples with the present and the future," he said.
The Race Village remains a work in progress, though it is closer to finished than not. Along the waterfront, Naples seems to be shifting from planning mode into something closer to anticipation, 241 days out and counting.
