On behalf of the Italian Fencing Federation which I am proud to chair, I welcome with sincere enthusiasm all the participants, trainers, accompanying persons, organisers and spectators to the European Veterans Fencing Individual Championships Chiavari2017.
This continental event comes back to Italy creating a huge amount of expectation that the Organising Committee, with the support of the Italian Federation and of the many institutional organisations, will be able to successfully meet.
Chiavari has always shown not only great organisational skills, but also a great involvement of the city in the sporting events promoted.
The key to success lies in the extraordinary passion that drives the organising committee, capable of multi-level transmission, infecting the whole city and the whole Ligurian district.
It‘s an event which, in the light of the exceptional development that the European Veterans Fencing movement is achieving, can rightly be considered as one of the most important competitions for the whole of European fencing.
It’s the first time, in Italy, that a European Championships takes place in a city that is not a provincial capital and this fact matches with the policy of the Italian Fencing Federation of spreading the presence of fencing throughout the national territory, rewarding especially the organisational and promotional skills.
This Chiavari event will also open a trio of major international events for which Italy will be the host. Following Chiavari 2017, our country will be called upon to host the World Cadet and Junior Championships in April 2018 in Verona and the Veterans World Championships in 2018 in Livorno.
The organisation, first of the European and then of the World Championships, testifies the great interest that the Italian fencing world gives to Veterans Fencing. This is also expressed in a concrete closeness of the Italian Federation to the organising committees and to those who work in such a way that Italy can continue to reaffirm its leading role in the international fencing scene, starting from the organisation of events.
On behalf of Italian Fencing, please allow me to thank in all sincerity the municipal administration of Chiavari, the institutions that have given their support and all the private sponsors for choosing to bet once more on fencing and its ability to promote the area.
Thanks also to European Veterans Fencing which has renewed its confidence in Italy by assigning the organisation of this event.
Finally, sincere thanks to Chiavari2017 Organising Committee for what they have set up and what they will continue to do, allowing Italy to host an event that lives up to its fencing history.

Chiavari Scherma celebrates in 2017 the 50th anniversary of its foundation and this is the main reason why the club that I represent strongly wanted to organise such an important event as the 14th European Veterans Fencing Individual Championships.

The commitment and efforts of our club in all organisational, economic and material aspects have been very strong. We hope to have been able to plan, design and organise this event in the best possible way so that everybody will be satisfied and will carry a positive memory of our club, of our region and also of our country, Italy; all of which we are proud to belong.

Our club didn’t confine itself to just organising the competition; we also wanted to create an expectation around it, planning a series of side events to be considered as the approaching stages to the Championships: a national medical conference, an exhibition regarding fencing history and many contests involving the schools of the area which we thank for the important collaboration provided.

We extend our thanks to all the people who have been with us during these long months of preparation, starting from local administrations such as Regione Liguria and Comune di Chiavari to the many sporting and institutional organisations and, above all, to all the volunteers who have well understood the importance of this
event.