Italian football 's new anti-racism campaign will use the friendly against England in Turin on Tuesday as the focus of its efforts to change attitudes in a country that has an uncomfortable history of race relations in the game . The Italian campaign is being headed by Fiona May , the English-born former Olympic long-jumper who chose to represent Italy after marrying an Italian , and she admits she has a tough challenge . May was appointed by the Italian FA 's controversial president Carlo Tavecchio , the 71-year-old who was banned from all football activities for six months in November after referring to 'eating bananas ' when discussing foreign players . Mario Balotelli was subjected to racial insults while training with the Italian national team in Coverciano . Fiona May ( centre , pictured in Turin ) has been tasked with improving race relations within Italian football . Since then , former Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi caused a storm in February by saying there were 'too many black players , even in the youth teams ' in Italy , while racist abuse of players by extremist fans is relatively commonplace compared to the UK - Liverpool 's Mario Balotelli was even subjected to racial insults while training for Italy at the Italian FA 's ( FIGC ) training centre in Coverciano before the World Cup last year . May admits she had to think long and hard before taking on the 'daunting ' task of heading the Italian FA 's anti-racism committee in September last year , but has taken heart from the response to the recent launch of a 20-month campaign . She said : ' I did n't accept it straight away - it was a pretty daunting task , but I do like a challenge and felt it was important to show a bit of courage . 'There was nothing existing , we have to start from scratch and the main thrust is to target youngsters , the next generation . ' May 's campaign is called 'Racists ? Ugly race ( ... and we do n't want them in our stadiums ) ' . It is holding 20 events in 20 months in 20 different cities across Italy , and the second of these takes place in Turin on Monday ahead of the England game . The first involved more than 2,000 young people in Florence , May 's adopted home city . Ex-Italy boss Arrigo Sacchi , pictured in 1996 , said there 's 'too many black players , even in the youth teams ' The Italian media has had a reputation for ignoring racist incidents in its football , but May believes that has changed , shown by the coverage given to the Tavecchio and Sacchi remarks , as well as the actions of Kevin-Prince Boateng who led his AC Milan team-mates off the pitch after being abused in a friendly . Even so , Sacchi 's comments in particular were hard for May to take . ' I was shocked and disappointed - he 's a big name in Italy and it did n't exactly help our cause , ' she added . The events around the Italy vs England match will mainly target registered players aged between 10 and 18 , and will include educational programmes in regional schools , a talk show targeted at teenagers plus a social media campaign . Juventus and Torino have both promised one first-team player to take part in the events as well as local politicians in Turin . May , who was raised in Derby and is still a keen Rams fan , admits all those efforts will seem a waste of time if England players are on the receiving end of racist abuse from Italian fans on Tuesday . She said : ' I ca n't say it 's not going to happen , but I really hope not - and we know FIFA and UEFA are now watching these matches very , very closely . ' May , 45 , who has become a well-known actress after retiring from competition , also hopes Italy will learn from Britain that part of the key to eradicating racist abuse is through legislation - Italian anti-racism laws are nowhere near as tough as they are in the UK . 'The legislation has to change , has to be stronger , ' May said . 'But at least we are doing something now and slowly but surely I believe it 's changing . '
Italy are hoping to change attitudes regarding race during England friendly . Score: 6