The N.I.C.O. was founded after the misfortune that struck one of its members, the Olympic boxing champion Maurizio Stecca who discovered during a routine medical check that he was suffering from a rare disease better known as Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria (P.N.H.), which affects fewer than 150 people in Italy.
Other champions, colleagues and friends of Maurizio, led by multiple Olympic medal-winner Vincenzo Maenza, therefore got together to found the  N.I.C.O., to raise the money needed for research and to assist patients in meeting the costs of treatment to combat P.N.H.