The Torino 2025 Fisu Games take shape and colours, and finally unveiled the design of the Medals and of the official Poster that will characterise the Look of the City.
The Organising Committee of the Torino 2025 University World Games, scheduled for 13-23 January 2025 in six locations in Piemonte (Torino, Torre Pellice, Pinerolo, Bardonecchia, Pragelato and Sestriere), today presented the fruit of the important collaboration with the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti for the creation of its gold, silver and bronze medals that will go around the necks of the best student athletes of snow, ice and mind coming from every corner of the planet.
At the same time, the Poster that will be declined in the various formats of the host cities’ Look of the City, created by the creative duo Van Orton Design, was revealed.
The presentation conference took place in the Sala Panoramica of the Metropolitan City. Alessandro Sicchiero, metropolitan councillor delegated to the Environment, did the honours. At the speakers’ table were the Councillor for Tourism, Culture, Sport, Equal Opportunities and Youth Policies of the Piemonte Region Marina Chiarelli, the Councillor for Sport and Major Events of the City of Torino Domenico Carretta, the Director of the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti Salvo Bitonti and the President of Coni Piemonte and member of the Board of Directors of the Torino 2025 Organising Committee Stefano Mossino.
During the meeting, moderated by the Corporate & Communication Director of the Torino 2025 Organising Committee Silvia Carrera, the exegesis of the creation of the Medals was illustrated. The management of the Accademia Albertina di Torino, considering the specific nature of the competition, entrusted the design to Prof. Giovanni Ruggiero, head of the Foundry Techniques course at the Accademia Albertina di Torino. The students of the course worked on two separate concepts referring to the two major disciplinary areas, one for Sport and one for the SPRINT Generation, the special initiative of the Organising Committee of the Torino 2025 Winter University World Games, in which ‘athletes of the mind’ from all over the world will compete in the ‘disciplines of the mind’. For the Sport Medals, the competition called for the development of a creative graphic element to enhance the concept of ‘Torino, city of the Alps, metro-mountain’; for the SPRINT Generation Medals, on the other hand, the competition called for the development of a creative graphic element focusing on the concept of ‘Piemonte as a hub and network of innovation, from food to aerospace’. Three students were finalists in the competition: Daniela Iovino, Pietro Monfalcone and Matilda Elia.
Among the various design proposals submitted, after a careful evaluation of the entries, the Committee committee unanimously selected the projects of student Matilda Elia, who won the competition for the design of both the Sport and SPRINT Generation areas.
Two original pieces of artwork for the XXXII Torino 2025 World University Winter Games, fully in line with the competition’s criteria in terms of innovation and enhancement of the territory.
Salvo Bitonti, Director of the Accademia Albertina, stated: ‘Once again, the Albertina expresses the excellence of its students and teaching staff, with the design of the medals for the Universiade of Torino 2025, an international event of the highest level, just as internationalisation is one of the primary objectives of our artistic institution, whose intense artistic experimentation and research activity has long been known outside Europe’.
President Paola Gribaudo wished to emphasise that ‘this statement is part of a broader project called “The Academy outside the Academy” with the presence of our students’ works in the City of Torino, but also nationally and internationally’.
In the second part of the press conference, the artwork of the poster was revealed, created by the international duo of twin brothers Stefano and Marco, the designers Van Orton, who explain their work as follows: ‘For the creation of the artwork, we wanted to represent some of the winter sports disciplines, in a play of chromatic joints between lines and geometries. The athletic gesture was the central element that we wanted to emphasise, almost stylising it. The colours blend together, keeping the official colours of Torino 2025 FISU GAMES intact. The iconic design of the Torch had impressed us from the start, which is why we wanted to include it in the artwork’.
INSTITUTIONAL QUOTES
Alessandro Sicchiero, Metropolitan Councillor with responsibility for the environment: ‘Today we are here to learn about the design of the medals and the Look of the City of the Torino 2025 World University Games. Only apparently these are details. Because we are talking about the look and graphic image with which yet another great sporting event of planetary importance hosted in our territory will be presented on the world and local stage. Well before and well after the 2006 Winter Olympics, Torino and its valleys proposed themselves as a land of sport and hospitality: a place where people come to compete, but also to spend stimulating and enjoyable days in an environment that loves and appreciates sport. Thanks to a precise political direction of our Council, the Metropolitan City of Torino’s participation in the Universiade Organising Committee is aimed at enhancing the area’s sports and tourism potential. One of the fundamental functions of the vast area authority is the promotion of social and economic development: so they could not fail to play a game that, in addition to Torino, involves Torre Pellice, Pinerolo, Bardonecchia, Pragelato and Sestriere. What we until a few years ago called the Universiade (born, not by chance, in Torino, on the initiative of the late Primo Nebiolo) can contribute to the economic and social wellbeing of our metropolitan area, but also of the mountain areas. Because the student-athletes that we will host in January 2025 are the ruling class of the future: promoting among them the knowledge of our territory and the tourist and sports opportunities it offers is a strategic choice. Just as the decision to organise the first barrier-free Winter Universiade in our territory, at least in Alpine and Nordic skiing, is strategic. In this case too, we are sure that the differently-abled athletes, if they get on well with us and forge relationships with their peers, will return as sports tourists, knowing that in our valleys they will find a qualified sports offer for everyone, regardless of social differences and personal conditions.’
Marina Chiarelli, Regione Piemonte’s Councillor for Tourism, Culture, Sport, Equal Opportunities and Youth Policies: ‘It was the students of the Accademia Albertina who designed these medals, intended for other students. This fact adds a special and profound value to these works. It is a beautiful message of sharing and solidarity, showing how young people, through their talent and creativity, can inspire and support each other. The medals thus become a symbol of community and of the future, a passing of the baton between generations that support and motivate each other’.
Domenico (Mimmo) Carretta, Councillor for Sport and Major Events of the City of Torino: ‘Torino is starting to prepare for a great homecoming, that of the 2025 World University Games, and, as when you are expecting someone welcome after a long time, the city can’t wait to dress up with posters and colours to make itself even more beautiful. Through the look of the city, Torino is also preparing to welcome more than 64 countries that will already be coming to inspect the sites of the races in the coming months. We want to be ready and show our sporting spirit and pride in this important event, which was born in Torino in 1959, thanks to the far-sightedness of the historic president of the CUS Primo Nebiolo. We want to involve the citizens and infect everyone, making the wait for this international event a moment of great enthusiasm and participation. Torino is ready to welcome athletes from universities from all over the world’.
Stefano Mossino, Delegate Councillor of the Torino 2025 Organising Committee and President of Coni Piemonte: ‘Less than two hundred days before the official opening of the XXXII World University Winter Games, the Road to Torino2025 sees today an essential moment such as the presentation of the medals and the Poster of the Look of the City. While waiting for the over 2000 athletes who, coming from all over the world, will give us days of immense emotions, joys and shared experiences, the medals and the Poster begin to tell us about the magnificent wonder of the Universiade, the passions of each award ceremony and the dedication of each competition that will be contested in the host cities and, above all, they tell us about the synthesis of competitive excellence, artistic research, the commitment of each athlete and each student to give their all without settling for mediocrity and without lapsing into mistrust; and they tell us how a major international event, which represents an essential opportunity for the territory, for tourism and for the economic development of the host sites, can only be achieved thanks to the collaboration of all the institutional players’.
I would therefore like to thank the Albertina delle Belle Arti di Torino, the Regione Piemonte, the Metropolitan City, and the City of Torino and the municipalities of Torre Pellice, Pragelato, Pinerolo, Bardonecchia and Sestriere for being part of this magnificent and fascinating route that will lead us to experience a fantastic and innovative XXXII edition of the Universiade, as innovative and far-sighted as its founder, the great and unforgettable Primo Nebiolo, was.
The Universiade and the Road to Torino2025 route are also an opportunity to remind us how sport and the university path are closely linked and are two cornerstones for our young people, for their education, for their growth and for the future prospects of each and of the community; they are two essential and complementary elements, as they are based on the same assumptions: commitment, dedication, sharing, inclusion, respect for the rules, respect for the team and for the coach, the pursuit of excellence without settling for mediocrity if without lapsing into mistrust. Sport and academies – in being a university and sports system – constitute an essential resource for the economic development of territories, as they both generate not only flows and presences, which in themselves constitute an increase in local economies, but also produce investments, innovations, research and production chains, without delocalisation but enhancing local excellence by constantly improving it.
We have a great responsibility, but it is also a great opportunity: to pick up the baton of all the millions of sportspeople and all the millions of students and, together, to celebrate the link between sport and academies in a great and magnificent international setting such as the Universiade. Thank you, finally, and a big GOOD LUCK to all the university athletes who, with their daily commitment to sport and the university course, are the future they want to give to our country’.
VAN ORTON DESIGN – BIO
Van Orton is a creative duo of twin brothers from Torino. Their art is strongly influenced by ‘pop culture’ and a design inspired by church stained-glass windows, then evolving with symmetrical grafts and luminous lines. They started by reinterpreting cult film icons from the 1980s, which enabled them to quickly gain a lot of visibility and be contacted by major brands, including Marvel, Microsoft, Armani, Mercedes and artists such as Pearl Jam and Blink-182.
