'Meet The Best 2022 – Building the future': the conference in Tortona on 23 September
Tortona will be the center of Italian and international basketball on Friday 23 September, when at Civic Theater the 2022 edition of will take place Meet the Best by Title 'Building the future'. The project, conceived by A Better Basketball and from Derthona Basketball, will see the presence in the city of numerous speakers of European and world fame (, promising the complete list).
Today, Monday 5 September 2022, the press conference to present this year's edition took place at the Donzelli Room di Giurisconsult Palace in Milan. To present 'Meet The Best 2022 – Building the future', moderated by Luca Chiabotti (co-founder A Better Basketball) were Andrew Bassani (co-founder of ABB), Federico Chiodi (Mayor of Tortona), Marco Picchi (President Derthona Basket), Ferencz Bartocci (CEO Derthona Basket) e Daniele Dallera (journalist for Corriere della Sera).
During the press conference, an illustrative video of the progress of the works of the Cittadella dello Sport was broadcast, with the words of Marco Picchi, Ferencz Bartocci and Alessandro Gandolfo (Project Manager), and greetings from Maurizio Gherardini, General Manager of Fenerbahce Istanbul, and of Marshall Glickman, CEO of G2 Strategic, two of the speakers on September 23rd.
The words of Andrew Bassani, co-founder of A Better Basketball: “I thank Derthona Basket, a great traveling companion in this adventure. A Better Basketball was born in 2018 from an idea of mine, Luca Chiabotti and Virginio Bernardi, with the aim of giving something back to basketball. By combining our experiences, we have collected significant testimonies and provided highly prestigious content over the years: Meet The Best and Next Gen Educational are the two products we offer. For the first time Meet The Best will be outside the confines of the big city and we believe that Tortona and Derthona Basket are the best city and organization to welcome us this year. On September 23rd we will have the opportunity to listen to the testimonies of those who have been involved in sports arenas for over 20 years, sending messages of high value".
Thus Federico Chiodi, Mayor of Tortona: “Being in Milan today to talk about Tortona and Derthona Basket is an honor and an emotion. The club, founded in 1955 and made up of many former players and enthusiasts, has achieved great results with the current leadership. We are a town of 27 thousand inhabitants brought to the fore by sport and entrepreneurship, certainly the Gavio Family with the Cittadella dello Sport is making a beautiful gift to our territory both on an architectural and environmental level, also improving the road network. I would like to underline again that it is not often that a Group of this level decides to invest in its territory. I can't wait to see the completed construction, because I'm sure it will attract many fans in addition to the Derthona fans, who are contagious.".
The comment of Marco Picchi, President of Bertram Derthona: “Among us today there are people who love basketball and have made a living from this sport, so I want to bring a contribution of hope. I believe that the Cittadella dello Sport is the positive experience of an enlightened entrepreneur who became passionate about basketball by bringing his children to play in a provincial arena and who built something that goes beyond the simple team. The Derthona Basket sports project inevitably rests on the Citadel and as the Mayor said, this sports initiative will also act as a driving force for the socio-economic fabric of the city. As regards Meet The Best, I believe an important feeling was created right from the start with Virginio Bernardi, Luca Chiabotti and Andrea Bassani, with the aim of bringing people to Tortona who can talk about basketball at an international level, also telling what is happening happening in Tortona. We have always wanted to grow hand in hand at an organizational and sporting level to make our foundations more solid, so much so that the three cornerstones of Derthona Basket are: the will to continue to be ambitious, take one step at a time in the right direction and not lose given the founding values of the Club".
Thus Ferencz Bartocci, CEO of Bertram Derthona: “Today Derthona Basket is an important point of reference on a social level, all collaborators and employees are references for others. The Cittadella Club and Management, founded in July, are among the 200 companies controlled by the Gavio Group, which is the second largest motorway operator in the world, a leading company in large works, transport and logistics, nautical, and has brilliantly entered the world of sport. Our mission is also to help other sports organizations and voluntary associations with the aim of creating synergies. The Cittadella dello Sport, in the Group's vision, must be a container for socialization: dedicated to Marcellino and Pietro Gavio, it will have the Serie A facility named after Luigino Fassino, demonstrating the strength of the bond with Derthona. We want to involve schools in various projects, introduce children to the Gavio Group in depth and the job opportunities it offers. We believe that the Citadel can allow us to develop events in this sense. We are a Club that believes and invests in people, we have grown a lot since I arrived in 2019. I also thank Alice Pedrazzi, General Manager of the Castelnuovo Scrivia women's team with whom the synergy is increasingly stronger, for being present here today at the conference".
The conference was closed by the speech of Daniele Dallera, journalist from Corriere della Sera, who will be one of the speakers at the conference on 23 September: “The city of Tortona gives me emotions and I am happy to hear that the Mayor is so sensitive to the growth of a phenomenon like Derthona Basket. The Citadel of Sport only makes you think that it's good for the future, I think it's fantastic to have heard from Ferencz Bartocci about the desire to involve schools, because this means spreading sport, culture and values. I believe that the event on September 23rd will have a long eye on Europe, and the fact that Derthona Basket is there, and Marco Picchi who grew up in this reality, organizing it gives us very good hopes.".
