After quietly arriving in town, he was spotted, recognized and photographed by a number of basketball fans. Moreover, Nikola Jokic, a Serbian player, star of the Denver Nuggets, who was awarded the Most Valuable Player award this season, at 2m 11cm tall certainly did not go unnoticed.

Currently on vacation – his Nuggets were eliminated by the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the playoffs and Serbia lost the playoff to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics against Italy – he came to Ferrara yesterday for his passion for horses. In fact, his real destination was the Zenzalino stables, some thirty kilometers from the city of Este, where Varenne, perhaps the greatest racehorse of all time, was born 26 years ago (he has won many prizes, including two Prix d’Ameriques, two Elitloppets, three Gran Premio Lotterias and a Breeders Crown).

The basketball champion, who was “caught” on the streets and in a downtown store while buying a beer, spent the night at the Hotel Annunziata in Ferrara. The question now is whether, with a contract worth $29 million a season, he intends to buy a racehorse.