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'Arrivederci Luna Rossa' Italy quietly mourns 5-0 trouncing of Luna Rossa
Posted: Thursday March 02, 2000 10:53 AM
ROME (AP) -- After all the late-night rooting for Italy's first-ever America's Cup, this nation of newfound sailing fans quietly said goodbye to Prada's Luna Rossa on Thursday after New Zealand's Black Magic completed a 5-0 sweep against the Italian boat. "Arrivederci Luna Rossa," was the headline in Corriere dello Sport, placed on the bottom of a front page dominated by European soccer coverage. The Rome-based daily searched for consolation in the Italian boat's victory last month over AmericaOne, concluding that it brought "more enthusiasm for sailing to Italy than ever before." Sponsored by the Milan fashion house Prada, the Naples-based boat, dubbed "Red Moon," had kept dedicated fans up through late nights of the nine-race qualifying finals and the first few losses to Black Magic. The live broadcasts off Auckland, which often ran past 3 a.m. (0200GMT), drew up to 2 million viewers in a nation of 57 million. But that fever progressively cooled over the past two weeks as light winds canceled several races, and the Italian boat was consistently outgunned by the defending champions. The final race garnered only 1.1 million viewers. News programs, which two weeks ago were led by reports from Down Under, on Thursday reserved the images of the New Zealand team spraying champagne for late in the broadcast. Newspapers also focused on Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli's criticism of Luna Rossa's skipper Francesco de Angelis and tactician Torben Grael after the fourth defeat on Wednesday. Bertelli, who headed Italy's $50 million entry, has vowed to return to challenge for the Cup in 2003. The Italy-New Zealand America's Cup was the first in 149 years of competition without a U.S. boat in race.
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