Uliano Vezzani, born in 1957 and with a name that says it all, in the world of showjumping’s circus is simply ’The Maestro’. Over two decades have gone by since his first experience as Piazza di Siena’s chef de piste dating back to 2000. Since then he has missed a few shows here and there and his ninth in a row.

“Every time is like the first and this time it is really special. They have done exceptionally well in preparing the footing after it had been used for school sports events in recent months. It is wonderful to be back after the forced stop last year and so it’s even more exciting than when I was told for the very first time that I was to be the man designing the courses in Piazza di Siena”.

In the course of his career at the Rome CSIO there has been another exciting event.

“Having brought back grass here to an unrivalled stage was wonderful. It was at that time that I started be become aware if the power and dynamism that there was in this organisation previously managed by Coni Servizi and now by Sport e Salute. I had expressed my enthusiasm hoping to see the oval become green again saying ‘it is like inviting a duck to water!’ And the next day there were already dozens of experts assessing the conditions and all that would be needed to achieve that dream. I have never seen something completed so quickly in my whole career and greatly appreciated the courage shown by the President of the Italian Equestrian Sports Federation Marco Di Paola in even going against the opinions expressed by the FEI at the time.”

So how wonderful is it to be the chef de piste at Piazza di Siena?

“The best thing is working in a grass arena and being able to add elements that make those watching us from the other side of the world say “ah, there is Piazza di Siena’.This year for example the wall will look similar to the Roman aqueduct, a perfect jump for this setting. In this sense too it is important to reuse old jumps when they belong to the place they are used in.

Photo © CONI / Simone Ferraro