Pablo Gonzalez is also in retirement. He would have a house in Novara, but he stays with the team to make up a group. Like a good captain. The blues stay at the Aparthotel in via dei Tornielli, an elegant building in the historic center owned by the diocese, managed and recently renovated by the company LVG group. In the past it had been a boarding school for students and a refuge for migrants. Twenty rooms booked until next Sunday’s championship debut. Forty guests, including players and staff members. Marco Marchionni’s technicians and collaborators sleep in single rooms, the athletes in double or triple rooms.
«We confirm that the squad is under construction – smiles the administrator Claudio Lavagna -. Every day the director of Bari updates us on new arrivals based on market moves ». The move from Novarello is an effect of the most turbulent summer ever for Italian football. The president Massimo Ferranti was looking for a structure where he could bring the team together in the delicate period of preparation, when you put fuel in your legs and look for an understanding between your teammates. Moreover, many of them had never crossed paths before, and the championship is just around the corner.
«The company contacted us and in 2-3 days we organized the collection – explains Lavagna -. Several rooms were booked by other customers, who were offered solutions in structures of the same level in the city with which we collaborate and without disbursements ». The players move by car or minibus. In the evening they must be in the room by 10.30 pm and on Thursdays a pizza and Coca cola dinner is allowed. The team has been given a dining room in the restaurant wing and self-service on the ground floor «The great vaults». The chef is Moris Rovetta, someone who has some experience with client-players because he worked at the retreat hotel «La Bussola».
Even the managers are not the first time they have to deal with athletes: in Alessandria they are owners of «Al mulino», a point of reference for the opponents of the grays and Juventus Under 23. «The novelty is that we had never hosted the same group for such a long period ».