Tiziana Mazzola
School “U. Di Pasca” (Italy)
Memory for Rocco Mazzola
Italian boxer from Potenza ( Potenza 20th October 1932- 18th March 2012),three times champion of Italy in the ‘50s and ‘60s, is part of the history of the national boxing. He was the seventh Italian boxer to have conquered the title in two categories: lighth maximum and maximum weights.
He was a right guard and people liked his boxing.He became a favorite of Lucanians and a boxer admired throughout Italy. The value of the Lucanian Rocco is found in the judgment of Umberto Branchini, the greatest Italian manager, who considered Mazzola the ninth strongest Italian boxer ever existed.
The “Good Giant” from Potenza has had an extraordinary career as an amateur with the middle weight title, and as a professional boxer with the two major titles.
He inspired the great Luchino Visconti for his masterpiece “Rocco and his brothers”; the Milanese director called Rocco to represent himself in a small part of the film that focuses precisely on the world of boxing, an opportunity for redemption for the talented young southerners.
In this paper we’d like to talk about the Visconti’s admiration for his boxing career and his life.
Tiziana Mazzola, Rocco’s daughter, is a teacher of English language and civilization at the Vocational Professional Hotel School “U. Di Pasca” of Potenza.