Pala Santoru

The Pala Santoru is an indoor hall in Sassari, Sardinia, located on Via Rizzeddu. It is a working gymnasium with a synthetic floor and a capacity that rarely exceeds 800 souls. What makes it worth noting is its pedigree in a discipline the rest of Italy often overlooks: handball. The arena bears the name of Gigi Santoru, the man who, alongside Piero Cuccu and Ermanno Iaci, introduced the sport to the island in 1976. He was a coach and a president before he was a memory. For decades, the hall was the fortress of ASD HC Sassari, the women’s side that collected six Serie A titles and six Coppa Italia trophies between 2002 and 2011. They have since moved on, but the structure remains in service for their successors, the men’s Raimond Sassari and the women’s Lions Sassari 2012. The atmosphere changes when the handball is put away. The hall doubles as a wrestling ring for the "Città di Sassari" International Wrestling Tournament, an event that pulls athletes from more than 45 countries into the cramped stands. It is one of the few places where United World Wrestling (UWW) Ranking Series bouts are fought outside the capital. The record attendance of 1,000 was set during a Serie A Gold final between Raimond Sassari and Sidea Group Fasano, a match that clearly drew people from further afield than usual.

The venue is unpretentious, a concrete box with a parquet surface that has seen more wrestling than it has handball in recent years. It is not a tourist destination, but for those who follow the sport in Sardinia, it remains the centre of gravity.