Chimenti, born in Leghorn but rooted in Lucca, had gathered a formidable collection of material related to basketball: balls, jerseys, cups, medals, gadgets, books, leaflets, journals, posters, advertisers, but above all pictures related to every time, nation, locations and format. In addition to all pictures he had found with his researches, he increased the collection with all photos he clicked in the worldwide pitches he visited.

Until his health allowed to attend, Chimenti did not avoid an event, either a local championship or an Italian or European championship or even the Olympics. Practically everywhere, he enjoyed free access, thanks to his formidable net of contacts and people he matured with his big idea of the “Basketball Museum”.

Initially, Chimenti located his Museum in his Leghorn’s shop – worked as vendor of fried chestnuts and products of similar type – then his shop of Altopascio, where he transferred in the Second post-war period, finally occupying some rooms of his domicile, organising there specific sections. He invited whoever showed interest with basketball to visit his collection, either he was a younger person playing in the surroundings or he was the national coach, even the international sport authorities.

In doing so, he followed his vivid passion, with the intendment of know and help to know the appealing sport which conquered him up to become the raison d’être of his life.

Chimenti developed a formidable net of contacts either at national level or at international level and, through it, continued to enlarge, standardize and improve his collections and his holdings, multiplying then until his death, that occurred in 1982.

Even, he produced the basketball wine: in fact, thus he labelled the wine of his winery and created and ordered the print of several labels which immortalized him with some of the persons who visited his “Museum”.

Chimenti organized also many events and tournaments, most of them at junior level and in the frame of Youth Games, witnessing a deep love and a continuous passion for basketball.

The collection of Chimenti occupied several rooms of the three adjacent apartments he owned. After his death, for some years, pictures and vestiges remained close to the public, also because the widow, who is still there, continued to live in the remaining part of the location.

Then, with the consent of Mrs. Chimenti, officials of the Montecatini’s basketball Serie A club took out the material because they intended to revitalize the “Basketball Museum” in suitable locations of the thermal Tuscan centre. These sites located in the sport palace normally hosting the matches of the premier league.

In concrete terms, the Montecatini’s club lacked of the adequate financial and organisational coverage for carry out permanent exhibitions and the collection was never visited in its completeness, but partially.

Successively, the club collapsed and, consequently, the franchise disappeared. The material did not come back to the owner – Mrs. Chimenti – who was unable to custody it, but instead to the Municipality of Altopascio which decided to keep it provisionally in deposit, locating the collections in some unused rooms of a school. But, unfortunately, these rooms revealed inadequate, in fact some of the perimeter boxes of the collections were damaged by the rain which flowed through a broken window.

Two great Lucca’s fans, Gianluca Mascagni and Vincenzo Buchignani, desiring to solve the problem, and aiming to avoid further damages or losses, asked and got authorisation from to Mrs. Chimenti – kindly available – the donation of all the material and moved it from the Altopascio’s to the main storage room of the Provincial Committee of Lucca’s C.O.N.I.

Successively, the material was transferred again. The Provincial Committee of Lucca’s C.O.N.I. had used for several months provisional locations, waiting for a definite move to the new seat, that inaugurated in December 2004.

During the stay in the provisional seat, lacking of adequate spaces, most of the archival material – and among it the boxes of the “Basketball Museum” of Giorgio Chimenti – was located for much time in the storage deposits belonging to a removal firm near to the site of Capannori.

It was just in these storage deposits that in the spring and summer 2003, a checking of the existing material was executed by the specialised staff of the Study Centre and Documentation A.S.S.I. Giglio Rosso, that a cultural and sporting association very concerned with historical research on the field of sport science and history. Among its competences, there are the rescue, the keeping and the reappraisal of archives and collections.

This work consented a new and updated survey of the material and a new order by typology (no serial pictures, paints, photographic albums, books, journals and objects). During this work, it appeared evident that the material was previously stocked at random, thus damaging, unfortunately in definitive way, all the glasses which Chimenti used for the protection of the photos.

The firm attitude of the two holders of the donations of the material of Chimenti’s Museum was fully approved by the supporters of the project "Basketball Museum" and consented the financial coverage by the Sport Counsellorship of Lucca’s Municipality. The just launched Basketball Museum benefited some new municipal locations of the San Vito’s Secondary School. All the material existing in the storage deposits of Capannori moved to the new location and there all the related work of re-order, reappraisal and electronic cataloguing is in progress.

Up to now, the cataloguing of the material is complying with the establishment of the virtual Museum, but the recording and location of the material develop taking into account the veritable opening to the public of the collections of Giorgio Chimenti: this is the final target of both the Municipal Administration and the raising foundation which will manage all the process.

As technical and scientific partners, presently three collaborators flank the Promoting Committee of the Foundation and of the Museum: the Lucca’s Society Imprendi supplies automation service for management of the virtual database, the mentioned Study Centre and Documentation ASSI Giglio Rosso of Florence deals with scientific consultancy and data entry, and the students of Lyceum Vallisneri of Lucca, led by Prof. Mrs. Pecchia, collaborate in the developing phases of the expected implementation.

The Museum will not limit its action to the vestiges of Chimenti who significantly started this adventure and without him, maybe, presently no museum would be operational. The present managers intend enlarge the Museum, then reinforce and update it continuously, moreover supplying all the possible equipment for becoming a specialized study and propaganda centre for basketball. In sum, the museum will be not a simple storage deposit of material or a mausoleum, but a veritable, dynamic and leading research centre.