Basketball
Over the years the Piedmont teams on the national basketball scene have seen the extremes of success and failure; years of obscurity have been followed by well earned success, the deserved happy ending of any classic film of sporting endeavour. The basketball fans of this region have followed the fortunes of their heroes with joy and despair. At the present moment there is one team in A division: Lauretana Biella, which has a very strong fan base in its home town. Another team, Cimberio Novara, has finally arrived in B division (Legadue) after 20 years of sterling effort. Unfortunately the major team from Turin city, Auxilium Torino, is no longer one of the leading lights of the A division. This team had its greatest successes in the 60’s when it won the European championship at Nantes, with a line-up that included the three Turin born stars, Caglieris, Sacchetti e Vecchiato. After 23 years in A division the team dropped back into the second B division (B Eccellenza), slipped down further into C division, but rose again to B where it remains to this day. Many women’s teams have achieved solid results and have a strong following: Pallacanestro Torino and Caffè Giuliano Ivrea are two excellent clubs. Interest in basketball is also maintained and fostered by the mini-basketball initiatives in schools and by the example of local champion, Luca Garri from Asti, a member of the victorious Italian national team, winners of a Silver medal at the Olympic Games in Athens 2004.
