Castel Maggiore (Bologna), September 12, 2026 – A day full of great emotion was experienced today in Castel Maggiore, where the sports center on via Lironi was named after Alex Zanardi. The great champion of motor racing and handbike, who passed away last May 1st, born in Bologna and raised here, where the plaque unveiled this morning now reminds everyone, athletes and non-athletes alike, is on the lips, in the eyes, in the thoughts of all.
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Many gathered to remember the great champion
To remember him and to make the morning worthy of such an event, there were mother Anna, son Niccolò, and many representatives of organizations and associations: the mayor Luca Vignoli, the Minister for Sport and Youth Andrea Abodi with a video message, the president of the Italian Paralympic Committee, Marco Giunio De Sanctis, Flavio Gaudielli of the association Obiettivo 3 founded by Alex, the metropolitan mayor of Bologna Matteo Lepore, regional councilor Emilia Simona Lembi, the president of the Sports Society Cinque Cerchi which manages the sports center Antonio Zucchini.
“This sports center is the most important sports place of his and our Castel Maggiore”
And all of Castel Maggiore: hundreds of children, teenagers, adults took part before the ceremony in the open day of the sports clubs. Moved, mayor Vignoli acted as a careful and attentive host: “This sports center is the most important sports place of his and our Castel Maggiore. We do this with the hope that all athletes and others who pass through it will be inspired by his tenacity and his dedication to work.”
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A place of sport and sharing
Matteo Lepore recalled its “Bolognese spirit,” awarded with the ‘Golden Neptune’, and the ability to “be one of us, not a superman”; the president of the Paralympic Committee De Sanctis, who followed him in all Olympic events, emphasized how Alex Zanardi “managed to be a driving force for all sport.”
The Minister Abodi recalled that “his presence leaves marks everywhere. Now it takes the facility to a new level.” Then Niccolò, very moved son, sealed a special morning: “Thank you, Castel Maggiore, for always being his home.”
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