21 September 2021 ASTM Group supports sport: a new arena for the local team Derthona Basket after its promotion to the top league
The Cittadella dello Sport in Tortona (in the Province of Alessandria, Piedmont) will be the new home of Derthona Basket, which was promoted to Italy’s top professional basketball league – Serie A – this year. The ASTM Group is the main sponsor of Derthona Basket. On the one hand, the new infrastructure will be the concrete evidence of Derthona Basket’s extraordinary success, and on the other it will represent a new phase full of opportunities for the Tortona community, related both to sports and beyond.
The path that led to the construction of the stadium, which is expected to be completed in 2023, was presented yesterday by Giampaolo Frante, Head of External Relations of the ASTM Group, during a lesson at the LUISS Business School in Rome as part of the Masters in Sport Management promoted by AS Roma and Italiacamp.
Giampaolo Frante explained: “The relationship between ASTM and sport is very solid. For the Group, sport is seen as a tool for developing and promoting the community. The Serie A championship, besides being an absolute sports success, allows a mid-sized town of 30,000 inhabitants such as Tortona to compete on the playing field with major Italian cities such as Milan, Bologna and Venice. Moving to Serie A is therefore not only sporting success, but also social and promotional opportunity for the whole community. Sport is also seen as a lever for personal growth that encourages positive values such as passion, commitment, respect for others and teambuilding. The formative power of sport is seen above all from an educational point of view: the idea is to help young people, the adults of tomorrow, by providing them with an inclusive space for learning and sharing experiences.”
“The Group’s sponsorship activities are driven not only by its love for sport, but also by an entrepreneurial approach. We are investing in people and in the infrastructure, providing the town of Tortona with a Cittadella dello Sport open to everyone and intended to last over time: an iconic building that will change the look of the town itself, becoming one of its distinctive elements. The Cittadella will include multifunctional sport facilities, the corporate offices of the Derthona Basket, large green areas, and, of course, the 5,000 seat Arena. It will become a facility suitable for professional competitions, but in addition a living place, a hub of connections and ideas.”
Mr. Frante then concluded: “The presence in the top Italian basketball league and the construction of the new Arena will allow Tortona to be recognised as an emerging city in basketball and as a centre of cultural and tourist attraction, thanks also to its remarkable food and wine offer, its natural beauty and its strategic position with respect to the main urban centres of north-western Italy of Milan, Turin and Genoa.”