A cultural and recreational programme is in full swing in the region. 

At the Palazzo delle Arti museum, a fashion academy show features sculptor Daniel Lismore, renowned for wearing elaborate ensembles, in a performance entitled "Be yourself, everyone else is already".

Andrea Bocelli’s performance of "Funiculi Funicula" brought the house down as a grand finale to the Opening Ceremony and there is a still chance to enjoy more Neapolitan music in what was described "as a fun and engaging show" at the 18th-century Domus Ars.

At the archaeological park in Paestum there have been workshops held to learn the sounds and music of ancient times.

Hundreds of local musicians also took part in a musical procession through the streets of Naples as the prelude to a performance in the Galleria Umberto and a concert entitled "Sport and Religions for Peace" at the historic Teatro di San Carlo. 

Later in the week there was also a performance of Pietro Mascagni’s opera Cavalleria Rusticana with subtitles in Italian and English.

There are 150 works by Mark Chagall being displayed at the Basilica della Pietrasanta. 

A multi-cultural area has been set up at the royal palace in Caserta, described locally as the "Italian Versailles" and there have also been concerts at the Roman Theatre in Benevento.

At the Diocesan Museum, the paintings of Caravaggio were brought to life by artists in a tableau vivant.

For those with other inclinations, the Valletta college set up computers to play esports.

Many have taken the opportunity to use the promenade along the side of the bay for training but at the royal woodlands in Capodimonte, there is a fitness trail through parklands. 

Naples 2019 say this offers "the ideal context for physical and mental recreation".

Official reports reveal that at previous Universiades, organisers were equally keen to entertain the student athletes. 

In 1959, athletes were also encouraged to visit the art galleries and museums of the city but they were also invited to a special staged performance by the famed Togni Circus.

At the Moscow 1973 Universiade, there was a full-blown artistic festival of dance music and also what was described as "an international youth club".

In the early days there were often elaborate receptions for the athletes and in 1965, organisers in Budapest even staged a competitors' ball.

The female competitors were invited to wear a number on their gowns and at the end of the evening, a "Miss Universiade" was crowned – the International University Sports Federation policy on gender equality was not as well defined in those days.

At Mexico 1979 Games, the cultural programme was considerable but there was also a disco and in those pre-computer days, parlour games were also offered. 

It included an invitation to a bull fight at the Ponciano Diaz bullring. 

It featured five bulls and organisers claimed the bullfight would be enlivened by the children's band of Etacepec and a folkloric ballet – an event they are unlikely to try again.