The recent splendid world golds, won in foil by Alice Volpi and Tommaso Marini, who both train at the Jesi Fencing Club, were confirmation that the small town in the Marche region can continue to boast the title of global fencing capital. More Olympic golds than India (about 1.4 billion people) and Mexico (the world's 10th most populous state), twice as many medals as Chile and Thailand: so the famed Jesi Fencing Club, with its accumulated trophies, could comfortably occupy a place of honor in the historic international Olympic medal table. Thanks to 14 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 8 bronze medals (displayed and stored at the headquarters in Via Siro Solazzi), the Club has been on top of the world since 1947. In that year, Ezio Triccoli, a sergeant major, decided to found it. Triccoli, a prisoner in Zonderwater, South Africa, had learned the first rudiments of fencing from a British non-commissioned officer. Returning to Italy, he used his African experience to found what has now become a veritable temple of world fencing, in a town of 40,000 inhabitants. One of its stars is Giovanna Trillini, Triccoli's student and four-time Olympic champion.
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