Cannones firing

Mountain trekking, fishing and Calcio Storico - we cover it all with Italy's flying

- MARK PALMER

AT SOME point in a World Cup schedule that pits them against France and New Zealand, the Italy players are bound to feel that their lungs are on the verge of exploding. Sure to look around them and see team-mates struggling to withstand the physical, mental and technical toll of facing such vaunted opponents.

As they search for inspiration to keep putting one foot in front of the other, minds may drift to summer days spent slogging up Monte Lagazuoi with the Italian army. Measuring 9,301ft (2,835m) at its peak, the mountain in the heart of the Dolomites was of strategic importance during World War One, when Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops on either side dug tunnels to engage in mine warfare.

These days it’s essentially an open-air museum and last month Kieran Crowley took his Azzurri squad there for a team-building exercise designed to improve how they react to extreme pressure and facilitate problem-solving on the hoof.

The players were divided into three platoons which set off from different locations at the foot of the mountain with instructions to meet at the same endpoint. With maps and compasses in hand, they departed, carrying all their food and equipment on their backs.

“It was a really great thing to do,” says Niccolò Cannone, the Benetton lock. “It was very, very hard as well, both from a physical and mental point of view. We had to trek more than 30km in two days up the mountain, with around 1,000m of elevation. We’re not used to doing this kind of activity, so it was a real challenge.