Anpas health tournament from June 20 to 22 in Borgotaro (PR)
Training, meeting, and sharing with six emergency scenarios, 25 teams of Anpas rescue workers from all over Italy
The sixth edition of the National Health Tournament will take place from June 20 to 22, 2025, in Borgo Val di Taro (PR), in collaboration with the Borgotaro-Albareto Voluntary Public Assistance Service and the Emilia-Romagna Regional Committee of ANPAS (National Association of Voluntary Assistance with Ambulances). Twenty-five teams of male and female rescue workers will compete in rescue competitions focused on sharing and improving skills.
The healthcare tournament. The now traditional Anpas national tournament, dedicated to Matteo Caporali, takes place across six scenarios reconstructed in various locations in the Val di Taro, based on complex situations that actually occurred and kept secret from the tournament participants. The scenarios are defined as complex and involve interaction with all actors involved, generally in real life. The extras become actors, masterfully made up with real special effects, who play the victims and bystanders, reproducing the behavior that occurs in real scenes.
Teams will have to find their way around unfamiliar terrain using topographical maps and GPS devices. And they will have a maximum time limit in which to complete each test. The award will go to whoever has best applied the safety protocols and completed the rescue efficiently but in the shortest possible time.
“We can’t wait to return to Borgotaro,” says Niccolò Mancini, president of Anpas. “Beyond the activities of the National Health Tournament, the purpose of the event is much broader: to share and compare various methods of intervention in the management of complex emergencies, but also to spend three days together with volunteers from Anpas public assistance organizations from all over Italy, strengthening friendships, having fun, consolidating technical skills, and sharing the vision that animates and unites public assistance organizations in a supportive, participatory, and collaborative society.”
“We are delighted to host such an important training and entertainment event for the entire ANPAS movement in our region,” commented Iacopo Fiorentini, president of Anpas Emilia Romagna. “We are proud and, together with the Borgotaro Public Assistance Service, we are doing our utmost to ensure that everything is ready for a wonderful weekend of friendship and fun.”
The program. Friday, June 22 will begin with the arrival of volunteers from all teams and guests at the accommodation and logistics camp, where toilets and showers will be available. In the evening, after the now traditional tortellata organized by the volunteers of Anpas dell’Assistenza Pubblica Borgotaro-Albareto, the official opening of the tournament took place with the organizing committee, the President of Anpas Nazionale Nicolò Mancini, and the President of Anpas Emilia Romagna Iacopo Fiorentini.
The meeting point is on Saturday, June 23, at 8:00 a.m., when the race will begin with the crews setting off for the six training scenarios. In the evening, there will be a party and awards ceremony for the tournament. Sunday is dedicated to the conference “Taking stock of gender-based violence and attacks on emergency responders.”
Anpas (National Association of Public Assistance) was founded in 1904, but its roots lie in mutual aid societies and secular Risorgimento movements.
Established as a non-profit organization in 1911, it is an autonomous, free, and democratic movement that bases its activities on the constitutional principles of democracy, social participation, and volunteer work.
To date, it brings together 931 public assistance organizations present in all regions of Italy, active in rescue and public assistance, civil protection, and the protection of common goods and the territory.
In 2009, the National Historical Archives of Anpas and Anpas Toscana (based in Florence) received from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities – Archival Superintendence for Tuscany, a declaration of cultural interest as it constitutes “a source of primary importance for the study of public assistance associations in Italy to document the social history, tradition, and innovation of public assistance in Italy.”