Patrizio Oliva, meeting with young people at the Correale Museum in Sorrento

Patrizio Oliva at the Correale Museum brings young people a powerful, vibrant message, just like his punches in the ring: “You save yourself if you want to save yourself.” World and Olympic champion in Moscow in 1980, Oliva, now sixty-five, faces new challenges every day, no longer in the ring but among the people and on the set, in his role as an actor.

On Saturday, November 9, at 11:00, in the Hall of Mirrors of the Correale Museum, Oliva will share his experience with schools. Together with Diego Occhiuzzi, he runs the “Milleculure” gym in Naples, a refuge for young people looking for a way out. “Naples has a thousand faces, always ready to help. Our goal is to keep kids off the streets, offering an alternative for those at risk of falling into crime,” explains Oliva. Sport and beauty become tools for rebirth: “The environment is essential for educating kids. Many of them only know degradation, while our gym is impeccably kept. We want to show them that there is something else, even beauty. I can’t say I saved them all, it takes the will of both. You save yourself if you want to save yourself.”

“This meeting, which I strongly desired – declares Gaetano Mauro, President of the Correale Museum – concerns social issues. Even in Sorrento there are episodes of violence and bullying among young people. Being a place of art, like the Correale Museum, also means being a place of education, positive examples and beauty. Here we educate and soothe the soul, as Oliva does in his gym. The Correale Museum is a gym of beauty; we create places where the gaze is trained in beauty.”