The Stadio Olimpico Carlo Zecchini played host to some of the biggest names in Paralympic sport at the IPC European Athletics Championships this summer but the Tuscan city has also provided us with our first glimpse of some of the biggest stars of the sport.
Grosseto staged the 2004 World Junior Championships where Olympic champions Michelle Carter and Kerron Clement were crowned along with world 110m hurdles record-holder Aries Merritt and home favourite Andrew Howe, who claimed an improbable double in the 200m and long jump.
And when Grosseto staged the European Junior Championships fifteen years ago, no bigger name than Mo Farah announced his arrival by winning the 5000m with his trademark sprint finish.
But one of the most hotly anticipated events is likely to be the shortest event in which Filippo Tortu will be aiming to crown his junior career with a gold medal in front of his home fans. Tortu narrowly missed out on a place in the European 100m final in Amsterdam last summer before winning a silver medal in the same event at the World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz.
The Italian team performed exceptionally well at the inaugural European Youth Championships in Tbilisi last summer, finishing third in the medal table behind Great Britain and Germany.
Alessandro Sibilio and Desola Oki won individual titles in the boys’ 400m hurdles and girls’ 100m hurdles respectively and will take on the continent’s best under-20 athletes next summer while 17-year-old Marta Zenoni - who has already clocked 2:01.91 over 800m - will be favoured in both middle distance events.
Look at the past results of any junior championships and you will see plenty of names who have gone on to achieve stardom at senior level. Grosseto will be no different.