Volleyball player/philosopher, the 'wise one'. He once said: "reading a book is more enjoyable than playing volleyball". The twenty-five-year old from Parma, in fact, loves reading - especially Pavese and Pasolini - and studying philosophy. If he had not played volleyball (which he took up after playing soccer at primary and secondary school), he could have seen himself in the academic world. After High School, he enrolled at Dams, temporarily abandoning the sport. The son of a painter and a teacher, the aspiring artist wrote his 'Small Manifesto' on volleyball, calling it "an invisible sport, but one that is alive". Seen as a maverick, a hit with the ladies, the opposite hitter from Emilia Romagna carries a small hourglass that encourages him to seize the opportunities that time gives him. He will do everything he can not to waste this one in Rio.