Giulia Martinengo Marquet is the reigning Italian champion (although she already won the title in 2015 and 2018) and the only lader rider called up for Team Italy to compete at Jumping Verona. Born in Friuli but, as she says herself, now Venetian, she has performed for many years in the saddle wearing the Air Force uniform.
This is her fifteenth time competing in the CSI5*-W World Cup, the flagship event in Fieracavalli’s intense sporting programme. “Verona is one of the two great show jumping events in Italy and all of us riders are always delighted and enthusiastic to compete in them. For me, it is also my “at home” event, since for a long time I was a spectator with my family – the first time when I was just nine or ten years old – and then fortunately as a competitor myself.”
Do you have any significant memories associated with Verona? “Unquestionably my ninth place of Athletica in 2007, my best result in the Grand Prix. And then the victory with Pop Lady d’Elle in 2014, the only one I’ve won so far in Verona.”
This is your fifteenth time. “A significant number for such an important event. Being selected and competing in Verona, as the season comes to a close, is the crowning moment of an evidently positive season of outstanding results. It is an acknowledgement of having done well myself, as well as the entire team that assists my daily work and during competitions, as well as the horses we have managed to valorise. In any case, one should never feel overly satisfied but rather always ready to give one’s best. It will be like this again this year.”
Speaking of horses and results, 2024 was a particularly significant year. “I can at last rely on a top-level trio: Captain Morgan Weering Z, Delta del’Isle and Scuderia 1918 Calle Deluxe. I can now trust them immensely regardless of the choices made at the time. It’s a situation that gives me joy and self-assurance. The ball is in my court now
and I really hope to be up to their level on this occasion as well.”
Ph. JV/Stefano Grasso
