Italy’s Olympic and Paralympic medallists went to the Quirinal Palace to hand back their flags to President Sergio Mattarella after a golden summer of sport.
The contingent was led by flag bearers Elia Viviani and Jessica Rossi of the Olympic Team and Bebe Vio and Federico Morlacchi from the Paralympic Team.
They arrived at the presidential palace on coaches emblazoned with the words ‘ItaliaTeam – Stupor Mundi’ for the Olympians and ’69 Times Italy, a Paralympics that is already in history’ for the Paralympians. Among the stars of the teams were double gold medal sprinter Marcel Jacobs and high jump winner Gianmarco Tamberi, as well as Vio, who got another gold and silver.

Filippo Tortu offered the baton of the Olympic relay team who took the gold medal in the 4X100 race to the President of the Republic. This was the present to the Head of State by the Coni delegation and it’s President Giovanni Malagò.

Besides Malagò, the president of the Italian Paralympic Committee, Luca Pancalli and the undersecretary of state to the Prime Minister, Valentina Vezzali were also present.