Calcio Storico

Piazza Santa Croce, set up for Calcio Storico

My friend William from Rio De Janeiro, who attended language school with me, is a soccer fan.  Early on, he taught me words that were to become important: calcio = soccer; partita = match; squadra = team.  William would often come to class and mention the partita from the night before. At the time, it was the Italian “A” league playing, and so I learned that most of the bigger cities have teams (there are 20 teams in the “A” Series, but really, that’s more information than you need!) with wonderful names like Juventus and ACF Fiorentina and A.C. Milan.

My friend Carmen, visiting from Barcelona

Like most things Italian (and Latin, for that matter), calico is more than a passing interest or a national past-time – it is in their blood, and calcio has its roots in ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire. In Firenze, the “modern” version of calico was born in the late 1500’s in Piazza Santa Croce (not far from where I live) and because I Fiorentini like to keep tradition alive, Calcio Storico continues to be played. Loosely translated as “old-time soccer,” calico storico has very little to do with the modern game.  But with posters all around town advertising the games, two weeks of preparation work to build the stands in Piazza Santa Croce, and my friend Carmen from Barcelona visiting during the final match, I bought three tickets for what can only be described as an authorized brawl.

There are always lots of flags at a Florentine event

The pre-game show was full of pomp and circumstance, as only I Fiorentini can do, and every square metre of the playing field was occupied by the finale.  The only things missing were a sacrificial cow and an elephant for good measure!  There looked to be about 20, really menacing-looking men on each team, the teams being drawn from 4 districts in the city centre. There was a squadron of “referees” in period costumes, and about 10,000 fans in the stands.  The teams playing were White – from the Santo Spirito area, and Blue – from the Santa Croce area.  And since our tickets were in the Blue section, we cheered for the Blue (Azzurri) team.

Pre-game pomp!

Oh, there was also a ball, as part of the game, but really, the ball and trying to score was really an afterthought to the main purpose of the game, which seemed to be to fight your opponent into submission.  This was achieved in several ways: bear-fisted boxing; full-on body tackling (a.k.a. ramming) your opponent from behind while he’s standing still; wrestling your opponent to the ground and then sitting on him (for what seemed like several minutes); and last but not least, a rugby-type scrum where everyone just piles onto everyone else.  To call Calcio Storico brutal would be an understatement. 

The game - in play.

Brandi, at the game

All that brutality didn’t sit well with my friend Brandi, who left early, but Carmen and I stayed to the end to see the White team win 4-0 over the Blues   It was kind of like being mesmerized by watching a car-crash over and over again: you know you shouldn’t enjoy seeing it, but somehow you’re drawn in by the drama of it all.  Carmen commented that the atmosphere in the stands was probably not much different than it would have been 2,000 years ago in Rome’s Coliseum.  I suspect she was right.

Watching the Eurocup in Le Vecchie Carceri - the old prisons
converted to social housing and public spaces.

Modern-day calico has occupied everyone in Europe recently with the Eurocup, which Italy lost to Spain 4-0. It was a sad night, to say the least, but Brandi and I, and my friends Tania and David (who were visiting from Toronto) eagerly went out to watch the game on a big screen in an enclosed piazza not far from my house. The atmosphere was electric, that is until it became clear that only a miracle could save Italy’s chances.  But it was fun to be here when national pride was so evidently on display.  Having watched more than a few matches, I now know why soccer so preoccupies so many people in so many countries: there is real athleticism to the game and it’s fun to watch!