Ricky Petrucciani, a rising star in track and field events

Ricky Petrucciani, the sprinter and ambassador of the Ascona-Locarno region, goes full throttle. In 2021, he won gold at the U23 European Championships in Tallinn and qualified for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In summer 2022, he won silver in the 400 m at the European Championships in Munich. Successes that he certainly also owes to his roots in the Onsernone Valley.

Onsernone Valley
Ricky spent his childhood and youth here, in Mosogno, with his father Maurzio. Ricky remembers this as being “a great time”. “Clean air, Zia Ida [a kindly neighbour with whom Ricky spent a lot of time when not in school], who taught me what's really important in life, and the freedom that country life offers,” he recalls, with beaming eyes, “are my most enduring memories of that time growing up in the Valle Onsernone”.

His father, Maurizio, used the Onsernone Valley to hone the 12-year-old's running in preparation for the Mille Gruyère pursuit race. However, he wasn't especially keen on athletics back then: football was his passion. He was even selected for Team Ticino... but that's where his football career ended. At the age of fifteen he decided to try athletics and was a great success. It suits Ricky so well. While he likes time on his own, this cosmopolitan athlete from Lake Maggiore also feels at home in a group. This is very important as, although running is an individual sport, athletes mostly train as a group. He belongs to the LC Zürich athletics club, yet he trains in Zug five times a week, taking the train from Locarno, where he now lives. An enormous effort. But it's worth it, to be as close as possible to the Ticino and his father.

Father and son, a well-rehearsed team
Indeed, Maurizio has given up his job for Ricky and is now his manager, accompanying him, whenever possible. The decision to leave the Onsernone Valley was not easy. Given the increasing amount of time spent training and poor bus connections at the time, it was the only way Ricky could improve his performance on the track while still keeping up his studies.

However, he has never lost his ties with this wild corner of the Ticino canton. Everyone who visits the Onsernone Valley remains enchanted by its unspoilt beauty and comes away with a realisation of just how hard life must have been here in the past. The Onsernone Valley isn't the only place he loves: Ascona, where he attended secondary school, is also very dear to him. “I always feel like I'm on holiday when I come to Ascona”. Something Ricky doesn't often get the chance to do. But he doesn't complain, he's happy just so long as he can see Lake Maggiore. The lake is what he misses the most when he's away from home for long periods: “If you're used to seeing the lake, you can't live without it”. Nevertheless, Ricky is always happy to grab any chance to relax. He loves to immerse himself in the warm water at the Termali Salini & Spa in Locarno or stroll along the lake promenade in Ascona. Besides his family and his memories, the mild climate also keeps him in Ticino, as this provides a quality of life hard to find anywhere else.