The city of Chieti says goodbye to one of its symbols, Maestro <a href="https://www.archysport.com/2022/06/tavoletta-flies-to-the-judo-world-championships-chieti/” title=”Tavoletta flies to the judo world championships – Chieti”>Rolando Luccitti, who passed away last Tuesday at the age of 87. With him goes an important piece of the city’s sporting and human history, a man who was able to pass on to his students not only the techniques of judo, but also teachings of correctness, loyalty and respect. Luccitti leaves behind his wife Anatolla and his children, Gabriella and Andrea, both lawyers.
Since 1968, Maestro Luccitti has been a guide for generations of athletes and citizens of Chieti, forged on the tatamis of via Nicolini, where he founded the first headquarters of the Kodokan Chieti. That path, known by all simply as “the path of judo”, has seen four generations of students pass by, including athletes, professionals, doctors and entrepreneurs. “He had created a real judo brand – says Silvio Tavoletta, one of his historic students and now also a teacher, with emotion – in the city every car had a sticker with the Kodokan symbol”.
Maestro Luccitti has always followed the progress of his boys, even after decades of career. Only a few months ago he was in Zagreb to watch the competitions of two Kodokan talents, Lucio Tavoletta and Alessandro Bruno D’Urbano, who became champion and vice champion of the Cadet world respectively. “Last year he celebrated Lucio and Alessandro’s first European and world championship with us – continues Tavoletta – and a few days ago I proudly showed him the photos of the boys who joined the Carabinieri sports group”.
A respected and loved figure, Luccitti was the first in Abruzzo to reach the prestigious level of 7th Dan black belt and to work alongside Japanese masters, helping to spread judo in its most authentic essence. His teachings did not stop at sport: among his students there are lawyers, surgeons, pilots and soldiers, men and women who still carry with them the values learned from the Master.
Rolando Luccitti’s funeral took place in the Church of the Trinity, where friends, students and fellow citizens gathered to say their last farewell to their master. With great emotion, Silvio Tavoletta wanted to remember the special bond that united them: “For all the beautiful and less beautiful things, you have always been there, you have been beside me. Until the end you asked me if everything was okay. Only you and a few others know what you have done for me and what you have given me. Thanks for everything and everything. Hello Master”,
