Research, sport, and tourism take center stage in the Sardegna Ricerche project

The event program will culminate with the FISO International Open Meeting “Five + Five Sardinia,” from September 28th to October 9th, marking the second edition of the Memorial Mattia Debertolis.

The 2026 edition of the “Orienteering 4 Research Sardinia” project was presented at the MEM-Mediateca del Mediterraneo in Cagliari. The project stems from the collaboration between Sardegna Ricerche and SSD PWT Italia, with the involvement of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, the Municipality of Pula, the Gutturu Mannu Regional Nature Park, the Universities of Cagliari, Sassari, and Verona, Sport e Salute, and FISO (Italian Federation of Orienteering Sports).

Following its launch in 2025, Sardegna Ricerche outlined the new strategic plan of initiatives aimed at enhancing sports science through orienteering. The goal is to promote a lifestyle based on outdoor practices, foster scientific research within the discipline at an international level, and develop advanced technologies for athlete performance, improving both their health and their physical and cognitive performance.

Born in the woods and later expanding into historical town centers, orienteering represents a complete multidisciplinary experience that has also become an alternative way to discover and promote territories. Since its inception in 1897 in Norway, it has grown to 3 million practitioners worldwide: a free-route, individually-timed challenge where participants must use a topographical map, provided at the starting line, to determine the quickest route to reach the correct sequence of control points (known as controls) located within a specific area, without getting lost.

Speakers at the presentation included:

  • For Sardegna Ricerche: Andrea Duranti, Coordinator of the Communication, Scientific Dissemination, and Business Internationalization Unit; Dario Carbini, Project Manager of Orienteering 4 Research Sardinia; and Marina Masala, Head of the Circular Economy and Sustainability Projects sector.

  • For the Municipality of Pula: Elisabetta Loi, Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Sport, Youth Policies, Public Works, Agriculture, and the Enhancement of Santa Margherita.

  • For PWT Italia: Gabriele Viale, Event Manager, and Jessica Lucchetta, Italian orienteering multi-champion and researcher.

  • For FISO Sardinia: Giacomo Chiesa, School Manager.

SCHOOL AND TRAINING

At the heart of Orienteering 4 Research Sardinia is a program of promotional and training events focused on orienteering, accompanied by research activities and conferences for the scientific dissemination of outdoor sports. Sardegna Ricerche will involve its employees in the “Orienteering Experience” team-building initiative, combining field tests with discussions on medical-sports research in the outdoor sector. In schools, training courses will be planned for teachers, technicians, orienteering instructors, and students from the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari, alongside the organization of student events and competitions for amateur associations, thanks to the synergy with FISO Sardinia. Furthermore, during the provincial school competitions, “learning by doing” sessions on practical learning—open to local stakeholders—will be held in Pula (CA), Cagliari, Oristano, Sassari, Badesi, and Sorso (SS).

DISSEMINATION AND RESEARCH: FROM SWEDEN TO SARDINIA

On the weekend of July 18-19, Sardegna Ricerche will take part in the O-Conference 2026 in Gothenburg, Sweden, the first international conference on orienteering in scientific research and higher education. This is organized in conjunction with the historic O-Ringen, a 5-day race held since 1965 that sees 25,000 participants per stage. The objective is to build an international forum of researchers, educators, professionals, and the orienteering community to exchange ideas, methods, and results—ranging from perception and artificial navigation to pedagogy, and from cartography to sports science and sustainability.

During the European Week of Sport, Sardegna Ricerche will host a conference on research and innovation (September 28th) in the natural area of Piscinamanna in Pula, alongside the Universities of Cagliari and Sassari, featuring international speakers, cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists, and coaches. A roundtable focused on research and innovation in cognitive tests for the elderly will also be held in Sassari.

CODE HUNTER AND FIVE+FIVE SARDINIA

Updating and implementing the existing specialized cartography of the Gutturu Mannu park will also be fundamental, along with the creation of three permanent “Code Hunter” facilities in Pula (at Piscinamanna, Batteria Boggio, and on the River Path). This technology, developed by PWT Italia, uses a single, free-to-download app to transform any location into a very low environmental impact challenge, borrowing the principles and values of orienteering. Anyone can register, locate the nearest facility, and use the corresponding map to challenge themselves by searching for checkpoints scattered across the territory, interpreting symbols linked to the natural environment, and using a compass.

The calendar of events will culminate with the itinerant event Five + Five Sardinia, running from September 28th to October 9th. This is the 2nd Memorial Mattia Debertolis, organized by PWT Italia and recognized by FISO as an International Open Meeting.

The stage locations will be:

  • Historic center of Cagliari (Sunset Sprint, Sept 29)

  • Piscinamanna (Sprint, Sept 30)

  • Historic center of Pula (Sprint, Oct 1)

  • Is Arenas Forest (Middle, 2 stages, Oct 3)

  • Historic center of Badesi (Sunset Sprint, Oct 5)

  • Baia Paradiso (Middle, Oct 6)

  • Sorso Forest (Middle, 2 stages, Oct 7)

  • Castelsardo (Sprint, Oct 8)

  • Alghero Grand Prix (Sprint, Oct 9)

During the races—which will be enriched by the promotion of regional food and wine excellences with tastings of typical products—cognitive tests will be conducted with neuroscientists and psychologists from the Universities of Cagliari, Sassari, and Verona.

STATEMENTS

Carmen Atzori, General Manager of Sardegna Ricerche

“Innovation at the service of well-being. Sardegna Ricerche continues to focus on technology transfer dedicated to health and the common good. Orienteering 4 Research Sardinia 2026 demonstrates once again the regional agency’s commitment to innovation that is never an end in itself, but capable of contributing to the growth of the territories and the well-being of society. The project further highlights how collaboration between public and private sectors is the winning strategy for achieving important goals, becoming a driving force even in seemingly very different fields, as in this case: sport, scientific research, health, and tourism.”

Walter Cabasino, Mayor of the Municipality of Pula and President of the Gutturu Mannu Regional Nature Park

“Our town, known for its sea and its beaches, has for several years been becoming a benchmark destination for sports tourism. This is a target strongly desired by the Administration, which allows us both to showcase the territory in all its valuable aspects—nature, landscapes, cultural heritage—and to pursue, already with excellent results, the seasonal adjustment of our tourist offerings. To achieve this goal, the presence of Sardegna Ricerche has been of fundamental importance; through its reference center, it promotes scientific research in the sports field as a means to optimally achieve psychophysical well-being.”

Elisabetta Loi, Deputy Mayor and Councilor for Sport, Youth Policies, Public Works, Agriculture, and the Enhancement of Santa Margherita of the Municipality of Pula

“We are truly pleased that Pula can host the stages of this important sporting event again this year. It is an event that helps us promote and enhance the lesser-known natural and cultural excellences of our territory.”

Gabriele Viale, Event Manager “Five + Five Sardinia”

“Sports research is a great driving force for collecting measurable and traceable elements to bring into daily life in order to improve citizens’ well-being. The extraordinary nature of this project is being able to—thanks to the presence of international athletes engaged in the event, which returns to the island after the 2013, 2019, and 2025 editions—compare lifestyles and habits by analyzing a large demographic and contrasting them with those of the Sardinian movement. Furthermore, we chose Sardinia as the place to continue to commemorate our champion Mattia Debertolis, who died prematurely during the 2025 World Games in China: as one of the technical coordinators of Five + Five Sardinia, shortly before leaving for Asia he had visited Alghero to update the city map.”

Stefano Esu, Regional Coordinator for Sport e Salute

“The collaboration between Sport e Salute Sardegna and Sardegna Ricerche today represents a fundamental strategic lever to promote individual and collective well-being, as well as to stimulate innovative paths of research and development. Investing in the synergy between Sardegna Ricerche and the orienteering movement means promoting an integrated vision of health, in which sport becomes an instrument of research, education, and innovation. It is a concrete opportunity to develop new lifestyles based on physical activity, sustainability, and awareness of one’s own well-being. This collaboration is not just a project, but a replicable model that will lead us to many collaborations and yield many other results.”

Salvatore Ferraro, Regional Delegate of FISO Sardinia

“Orienteering has obtained important recognition from the Ministry of Education, which has identified it as a compulsory subject in sports high schools. This demonstrates the educational value of this sport, derived from its interdisciplinary specificities and the formative value of the athletic, psychological, and behavioral dimensions. In Sardinia, orienteering saw its first practitioners with a single club 40 years ago: since then we have reached 9 Sardinian clubs affiliated with FISO, bringing many people closer to the territory and nature. Since 2024, the support of Sardegna Ricerche has allowed us to implement a development plan for the practice in the territory of the Gutturu Mannu Park, at their Piscinamanna headquarters, with the creation of two extremely interesting sports cartographic facilities. FISO Sardinia technicians are also active in schools with multidisciplinary educational projects and have been involved by the University in studies on disease prevention in the elderly through outdoor motor activities characterized by cognitive and mental engagement.”

Jessica Lucchetta, Researcher and PWT Italia Athlete, Italian Orienteering Multi-Champion

“As an athlete, but even more so as a researcher, it makes me extremely proud to see how orienteering and the research world are increasingly collaborating in different areas. Participating in the Gothenburg conference, at the prestigious Swedish Chalmers University, represents a unique opportunity—with a view toward internationalizing and disseminating what is being done in Sardinia—to present the innovative work we are carrying out. I am also happy to make my experience and elite athlete technical skills available to the Sardinian movement, which is continuously growing.”