Davide tells us about his career, from his first experiments to the AC Milan commercial, and then takes stock of the state of the art of the discipline in Italy.
Who was the first to jump? It is difficult to trace the origin of something that makes freedom from constraints and barriers its founding element, that wants to escape all categories. After all, we have always jumped. Certainly the parkour has its own history, which would merit a separate article. You can link it to the natural training method designed by French naval officer Georges Hébert in the 1920s: outdoor training that focuses on movement in natural settings, mental dominance over danger, attention to form and sound principles, little room for competition. The son of a Parisian fireman coined the name, David Bellefascinated by his father's training.
We have reached freerunner Davide Garzettiwho has been practising this discipline since he was a young boy and has made a profession out of it for years, working as a talent for important brands and companies, such as Emporio Armani e BMW. Recent collaboration with the Sport Business Academy for the launch of the new academic year.
Good morning Davide. I'll start with a question. How did you get into parkour? Did you play any other sports before?
I approached the sport at the age of 14. Before that I had tried playing football, basketball, even break dancing, but I hadn't managed to find my dimension. Then, at that time, YouTube was catching on and after watching a few videos on parkour, I decided that was what I wanted to do.
Where do we start?
I started out self-taught, experimenting. There were no dedicated courses yet, so I used to dive in my grandparents' pool. You know, backflips and stuff like that. Then I used to practise in the woods behind the house. With time something started to move and my mother, worried, enrolled me in the first gym class. But it was an acrobatics course derived from martial arts.
In fact, your discipline was typically born on the street and fed on freedom. Today you are a professional, with sponsors, events, shootings. What does it mean for you to do parkour in an 'adult' way without losing the rebellious soul of the movement?
Doing parkour in an adult way means having a more responsible approach to the practice. When you're young you have that hunger for impossible jumps, with every training session you want to surpass yourself and push yourself a little further. But every time you go further, the risks increase and I can no longer afford it. If I get hurt, I don't work. Since in everything I do there is a risk of injury, now my training is always in progression towards more complex jumps, but within my limits. I train a lot more for maintenance and clean movements, I do less pushing workouts. I enjoy what I can do.
I guess you happened to get hurt.
Yes, indeed. And it was a bit of a problem, especially the second time. The first time I hurt myself in the gym paradoxically, on the soft. Fracture of the sternum, injury all in all survivable. The second came at the peak of my career, in 2021. I remember during the semi-final of Tu si que vales I already had some inkling that something was wrong. But I went ahead and a month later, due to overloading, my knee gave out. Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and a six-month stop.
Parkour, however, is much more than jumps and stunts: it is study, control, repetition. How would you describe the relationship between technique and instinct in the way you train and create?
Parkour comes from instinct. It stems from useful and practical movements for everyday life, an intrinsic practice. Over the years, techniques have been developed and today technique makes all the difference. Personally, I work a lot on technique. The instinctive part always remains, but it is a 20%.
From the woods behind the house to the stage of international brands, quite a leap, you might say. When did you realise that parkour would become your job?
At first I just liked working out, it made me feel good. Following the world community, however, I saw that many people were making a job out of it. Thanks to my coach at the time, I got the chance to take part in a project, an amateur short film: I remember jumping over a hedge and then being killed by the main character. That was the first time I realised I could make that passion into a profession. After that I still worked as a warehouse worker for seven years, but in the meantime I was taking part in more and more projects. It was only in 2021 that I realised I could do it.
In an age where we experience (and watch) sport through screens, how do we communicate the authenticity of parkour without trivialising it or turning it into pure social entertainment? I'm also thinking of the whole the drift of climbers and rooftoppingvery popular on social media for the very young.
This is a sensitive issue for parkour, because its spectacularity makes it vulnerable to this kind of instrumentalisation. On social media, you don't find people educating about the discipline, you find the whole failing strand or that of impossible, risky jumps. This is the exact opposite of the philosophy of the sport, which is to move from point A to point B in the most effective way possible, not the riskiest. Jumping between buildings is not parkour. That said, one must then distinguish the stunt of the kid from the phenomenon distorted by social media. We have all climbed in isolated places to experiment, but in parkour you do it for yourself. You don't do it for visibility, in a chase to climb in the most inaccessible and dangerous place.
These are illegal drifts that hurt the discipline and get you nowhere. Yes, you make followers and you go viral, maybe you do some small collaborations. But I can tell you that no serious brand wants to work with people who do illegal things, and as long as parkour is associated with dangerous behaviour, we won't be able to get it established here.
The body is your instrument of expression and risk. How do you experience your relationship with fear? Does the 'thrill' still exist even after years of experience?
Fear and thrill are always there, at every level up. There is always the most difficult leap to make, that step beyond the comfort zone related to a personal challenge. The approach counts a lot, because if you work with progression you can arrive at new challenges aware of your background. Risk is unnecessary, I only approach each jump when I have made it as safe as possible. If I'm about to jump and fear blocks me, I take a step back and go back to training. When I'm ready, I jump.
What do you think about the increasing institutionalisation of parkour, with federations, regulations, official competitions? Is it an opportunity or a risk for the identity of the discipline?
Both, I think. There is a problem at the moment, because the Gymnastics Federation of Italy has taken parkour under its wing. We were also supposed to go to the 2024 Olympics. Unfortunately, many athletes of my and other generations don't like this, they would like their own, internal federation, because that federation has strict rules and there is a risk of losing the identity of the sport. That's why they boycott initiatives, but we can't go on like this. It would be nice to find common ground, to grow and become mainstream while still being able to preserve one's own ideals.
Looking to the future, where do you think parkour is going? And where do you want to take it with your voice and style?
Parkour is gaining visibility. One way or another we are going mainstream. I have always moved to spread the word. I would like to make it known and also spread my cult of aesthetics. With this in mind, I work with a foreign company and with local municipalities and associations to create freely accessible parkour parks. Today there are about ten throughout Italy, and in December we managed to inaugurate one in Brescia.
Is there any news concerning Italy?
Big news. We are working on the only Italian stage of the Kings of the Concrete, an American event that in September will be in Puglia, in Vieste. As of this year, in fact, it is itinerant and after Venice Beach and Oslo it will be Italy's turn.
Well done, Davide. All that remains is to wish you good work and a good jump.
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