Pallacanestro Don Bosco Livorno, founded in 1996, is a professional Italian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club from the town of

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, playing in the

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

(third division) as of June 2015. Formerly a youth section of Basket Livorno, Don Bosco has gone on to be the organisation's flagship team. Basket Livorno - founded in 1947 - was formerly in the top division, the 2006-07 season was its last in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

before financial problems and irregularities led to the demise of the club in 2009 (as a sports club) and 2014 (as a company). For past club sponsorship names, see the list below.

History

Basket Livorno

Basket Livorno was founded in 1947,"Livorno sports societies."
'

Province of Livorno The province of Livorno or, traditionally, province of Leghorn ( it, provincia di Livorno) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. It includes several islands of the Tuscan Archipelago, including Elba and Capraia. Its capital is the city of ...

''. Retrieved on 8 June 2015. it languished in the shadows of Libertas Livorno and Pallacanestro Livorno, the strongest clubs of the city, until the demise of Libertas (now an amalgamation of the two clubs) in 1994. The D’Alesio family would take over Basket Livorno in 1992, under the moniker of Don Bosco Basket. After buying the license of Azzurra Roma, it would join the third tier Serie B1 in 1994. The team earned a promotion to the professional Serie A2 in 1996, the same year the Pallacanestro Don Bosco sports society was founded, it was incorporated as the youth sector of the organisation."The society - History."
'Pallacanestro Don Bosco Livorno''. Retrieved on 8 June 2015. Renamed as Basket Livorno from 1998, the club would see the D'Alesio family withdraw their support in 2000, with the Falsini brothers - through their brand Mabo - taking over the sponsorship the same year.Lazzotti , Federico
"Livorno, the license is the envy of many."
'

Il Tirreno ''Il Tirreno'' (English: "The Tyrrhenian") is a regional Italian newspaper, printed in Livorno and serving the Tuscany region. ''Il Tirreno'' also features sixteen local editions around the whole region. History It was founded in 1877 under th ...

via

Lega Basket The Lega Basket A (officially: ''Lega Società di Pallacanestro Serie A'', English: Basket League) is the organizing body, as delegated by the Italian Basketball Federation, of the top division of Italian professional men's basketball league, the ...

''. 5 May 2007. Retrieved on 8 June 2015. Now a mainstay in the A2, Livorno would have four unsuccessful participation in the promotion playoffs, with its fifth attempt in 2001 finally successful. Basket Livorno would join the first division

for a historic first time during the 2001-02 season, finishing next to last, enough to confirm their top division status. Mabo would leave the ownership of the team – for a symbolic euro – to the commune in 2004. The latter would try and reduce their share by incorporating corporate ownership, though they resisted selling the license to another city, the TD group became a mayor sponsor in 2007."Farewell to Basket Livorno."
'

'', Livorno, 17 June 2009. Retrieved on 8 June 2015. On the pitch Basket Livorno had cemented their place in Serie A, despite always finishing in the lower part of the league table, however during the 2006-07 season they finished last and were relegated to Legadue (the renamed second division). After two further years in Legadue, Basket Livorno decided to withdraw from their participation in the next edition during the summer of 2009, amidst reported debts of €2,000,000. It later emerged during a 2015 investigation that the management had been using two company accounts, official and unofficial, processing undeclared financial transfers to defraud creditors, the 2014 bankruptcy of Basket Livorno was reconfirmed at the same time.

Pallacanestro Don Bosco

In parallel to the turmoil at Basket Livorno, Pallacanestro Don Bosco had continued to participate in youth championships. With its former parent club's days numbered, the club asked for admission to the fourth tier Divisione Nazionale B in 2011 as a separate entity. Its request was accepted and since then team has assured the continuation of the Don Bosco name in national leagues. It is the Livorno side playing at the highest competitive level. In May 2015 it lost in the promotion playoffs to Mens Sana Siena.Marinari, Francesc
""Serie B Basketball, the playoffs end for Livorno; Siena strikes, goes 3-0 and continues the adventure."
'

La Nazione ''La Nazione'' is one of the oldest regional newspapers in Italy, and was established on 8 July 1859. The paper is based in Florence. History and profile ''La Nazione'' was founded by Bettino Ricasoli, interim head of the Tuscan government. Th ...

'', Livorno, 19 May 2015. Retrieved on 8 June 2015.

Arena

Basket Livorno historically played at the

PalaLivorno PalaLivorno (formerly known as ''PalaAlgida''), from 2013 known as Modigliani Forum, is an indoor sporting arena located in Livorno, Italy. The capacity of the arena is 8033 people and was opened in 2004. It is currently home of the Basket Livorn ...

(capacity: 8,033), Pallacanestro Don Bosco plays at PalaMacchia (capacity: 2,500).

Sponsorship names

Notable players

2000's *

Aloysius Anagonye Aloysius Anagonye (born February 10, 1981) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for ALM Évreux Basket of the LNB Pro B. Professional career Anagonye played for Italian Serie A sides Villaggio Solidago Livorno (2004–2005) and ...

1 season: '04-'05 * Drew Nicholas 1 season: '04-'05 *

Preston Shumpert Preston Anthony Shumpert (20 August 1979), also known by his Turkish name of Mert Shumpert, is an American-born, naturalised-Turkish professional basketball player. He was twice named to the All-Big East first team while playing college basketball ...

1 season: '04-'05 * Charlie Bell 1 season: '03-'04 *

Tommaso Fantoni Tommaso is an Italian given name. It has also been used as a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name A * Tommaso Acquaviva d'Aragona (1600–1672), Roman Catholic prelate * Tommaso Aldrovandini (1653–1736), Italian painter of ...

5 seasons: '02-'07 *

Antonio Porta Antonio Alejandro Porta Pernigotti (born 28 October 1983) is a former Argentine-Italian professional basketball player, who lasted played with the Svendborg Rabbits in the Danish Basketball League. He played at both the point guard and shooti ...

4 seasons: '02-'06 *

Luca Garri Luca Garri (born 3 January 1982) is an Italian professional basketball player who plays for Derthona Basket of the Italian Serie A2. Professional career Garri moved to Don Bosco Livorno aged 15, loaned to Zucchetti Montecatini in 1999-00, he p ...

4 seasons: '00-'04 *

Ken Barlow Ken Barlow is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera '' Coronation Street'', played by William Roache. He was created by Tony Warren as one of ''Coronation Street''s original characters and December 2020 marked Ken's 60th anni ...

2 seasons: '00-'02 *

Tyrone Grant Tyrone Jeremy Grant (born January 24, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player of Barbadian descent. At a height of 2.02 m (6'7 ") tall, he played at the small forward and power forward positions. He was en explosive scorer and go ...

2 seasons: '00-'02 1990's *

Myron Brown Julian Myron Brown (born November 3, 1969) is an American former professional basketball player. At 6'3" (1.90 m), 180 lb (82 kg) shooting guard, he played one season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) before playing around ...

1 season: '99-'00 *

Tellis Frank Tellis Joseph Frank Jr. (born April 26, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player and former assistant coach for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). At 6'8.5" (2.08 m) and 225 pounds (102 ...

1 season: '99-'00 *

Ivica Marić Ivica Marić (born April 16, 1967 in Zenica, SR Bosnia-Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Croatian former professional basketball player. He was a 1.82 m point guard with good court vision. Professional career Marić led the 2000–01 Euroleagu ...

1 season: '98-'99 * Brad Miller 1 season: '98-'99 * Walter Santarossa 7 seasons: '96-'03 * Samuele Podestà 4 seasons: '96-'00 * Mario Gigena 3 seasons: '96-'99 * Silvio Gigena 3 seasons: '96-'99 *

Dante Calabria Dante John Calabria (born November 8, 1973) is an Italian-American former professional basketball player and coach. He is currently the head coach of Bethel Park High School in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. College career Calabria played college bas ...

1 season: '96-'97 * Alessandro Fantozzi 1 season: '96-'97 *

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

1 season: '96-'97

References

External links

Official Website
Retrieved on 8 June 2015.
Profile at Eurobasket.com
Retrieved on 8 June 2015.
Basket Livorno profile at Lega Basket
Retrieved on 8 June 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Livorno 1947 establishments in Italy Basketball teams established in 1947 Basketball teams in Tuscany