Taranto is gearing up for the Mediterranean Games and switching on the lights at the Iacovone Stadium
With lighting at 1,400 lux, the event’s international organising committee leaders were present at the start; the event will bring around 4,500 athletes from 26 countries in the Mediterranean region to Puglia from 21 August to 3 September
Taranto is entering the final 50 days before the 20th edition of the Mediterranean Games, the event which, from 21 August to 3 September, will bring together around 4,500 athletes from all disciplines, representing 26 countries in the Mediterranean region. This is an event that took place in Puglia many years ago, with Taranto as its main venue, but which also involves the provinces of Taranto, Bari, Brindisi and Lecce. These are, in fact, the locations hosting the stadiums, sports facilities and sports halls – 41 venues in total – which in recent months have undergone construction or renovation work using funding of 275 million, disbursed in two instalments by the Government, which subsequently appointed a commissioner, Massimo Ferrarese, to oversee the works, given that delays had accumulated which would have jeopardised the possibility of staging the event, Last night, in the run-up to the Games, at the Iacovone Stadium in Taranto – the main venue – the new lighting and sound systems were officially switched on. The leaders of the International Games Committee, led by President Mehrez Boussayene, were in Taranto for the occasion.
A project that has been gradually expanded and enhanced
The lighting at the stadium, like most of the work carried out at the Iacovone, has evolved as the project has progressed. In other words, the lighting has been gradually expanded and improved. The Iacovone now has a lighting level of 1,400 lux, which is the standard required for Champions League semi-finals. The lux is the unit of measurement for illuminance and represents the amount of light that actually falls on a surface. In sports facilities, the lux measures the actual visibility of the pitch and determines the category of the infrastructure. There are 132 floodlights directed at the pitch. And just as the internal lighting has been upgraded, the same will be done for the external lighting. Until now, the plan was to illuminate the Iacovone with floodlights only during the Games; however, work is now underway to provide permanent, stable and definitive lighting for the exterior of the stadium at all times.
The other facilities are also at an advanced stage
Although the Iacovone looks good to visitors – especially when you consider that a year ago there was practically nothing there – it is, in reality, still a work in progress. There is still a great deal of work to be done to finally turn it into a modern, state-of-the-art facility. Ultimately, the cost of the Taranto stadium will exceed 60 million, and just as the Iacovone is at an advanced stage, the same applies to the other flagship venues for the Games: the swimming stadium with two Olympic-sized 50-metre pools, the urban sports park, the Palaricciardi athletics venue and a tennis centre with eight courts.
