This pandemic year has also put a strain on our physique. Closed gyms and closed swimming pools, forced lockdowns and difficulties in continuing to train have made us understand even more the value of sport and the physical and psychological well-being that derives from it.
This article is dedicated to the sporting tradition of Florence: from Calcio Storico to the Fiorentina purple team, from the Football Museum of Coverciano to the Artemio Franchi Stadium, from the Assi Giglio Rosso association to the Cycling Museum dedicated to Gino Bartali, here is a cultural marathon in the name of healthy physical activity, with a final dive together with the Canottieri!
With the hope that gyms, swimming pools and sports centers in Italy can reopen as soon as possible.
On the other hand, as the ancient Romans said … mens sana in corpore sano!
The “Calcio Storico Fiorentino”
The “calcio storico fiorentino” has Greek origins. In fact, it derives from the union of five classic specialties: wrestling, running, jumping, boxing and javelin. Used by the Roman legionaries as training, it was called “harpastum” (= to tear with force).
The most famous matches were played in 1490 on the frozen Arno and on 17th February 1530 during the siege: Florence was surrounded by the troops of Emperor Charles V, an ally of the Medici. Nevertheless, the Florentines, as a sign of contempt, played football in Piazza Santa Croce, taking care to make a lot of noise, to be well heard even by the troops encamped on the surrounding hills. The Republicans lost and the Medici returned to Florence, but that game remained in history, testifying to Florentine pride, which is not afraid of anything or anyone. This fearless feeling has remained as it is to this day and is vividly breathed during historic football matches!
During the Renaissance, historical football was reserved for the nobles of the city. Famous players over the centuries were Piero il Fatuo de’ Medici, Cosimo I, Pope Leo X, Pope Clement VII (yes, the popes too, you got it right!). The last game was played in 1739.
Historical football made a strong comeback in Fascist Italy: in 1930, it was even played in Piazza della Signoria (think if Benvenuto Cellini’s “Perseus” had caught a ball …!).
The seat of historical football is the Palagio di Parte Guelfa, in the historic centre of Florence.
The final match is celebrated on June 24th, the day of St. John the Baptist, patron saint of the Florentines. It is preceded by the cortege of 550 participants who parade with flag-wavers from Piazza Santa Maria Novella to Piazza Santa Croce. On that occasion, the city is paralyzed.
The teams are the 4 districts of Florence: Santa Maria Novella (the reds), San Giovanni (the greens), Santa Croce (the blues), Santo Spirito (the whites).
A few rules: the game lasts 50 minutes, there are 27 players, no changes are allowed, it is played on a sand-covered ground and the game consists of throwing the ball into the net. Goal? No! They say “caccia”!
Credits: photos by Marco Asprea and Maurizio Russo, from the magazine “TuttoTurismo”, 2008
The purple team: the ACF Fiorentina
ACF Fiorentina was officially founded in 1926 from the merger of two existing football clubs: Club Sportivo and Libertas. The emblem of the lily (actually an iris, but this deserves another in-depth article …), the symbol of Florence, is inevitable and omnipresent.
On the other hand, the origin of the colour of the shirt is interesting: the team wore the heraldic colours of white and red, but, due to a washing error, it seems that the shirt came out of the washing machine colored … purple!
The legend is quite fascinating, but not very scientific: it seems in fact that it was purposely studied to reach the same purple hue of the “giaggiolo” Iris Germanica. (A tour of the Iris Garden, in spring, could have a clarifying effect on you! Also for this reason, it is necessary to book another kind of guided tour …).
The 2020/2021 season of ACF Fiorentina currently features the following line-up: Pietro Terracciano, Jacopo Ricco, Antonio Rosati, Federico Brancolini, Bartlomiej Dragowski (goalkeeper), Lucas Martinez Quarta, Cristiano Biraghi, Nikola Milenkovic (defender), Maximiliano Olivera, German Pezzella, Martin Caceres, Lorenzo Venuti, Lorenzo Chiti, Kevin Malcuit, Antonio Barreca, Eduard Dutu, Fabio Ponsi, Igor, Giacomo Bonaventura, Borja Valero, Franck Ribery, Gaetano Castrovilli (midfielder), Alessandro Bianco, Cristobal Montiel, Dimo Nikolaev Krastev, Sofyan Amrabat, Erik Pulgar, Valentin Eysseric, Dusan Vlahovic (lineman), Christian Kouame, Louis Munteanu, José Callejon, Aleksandr Kokorin. The youngest are born in 2003, the oldest (!) are born in 1983.
Speaking of ACF Fiorentina, it is impossible not to remember Davide Astori, born in 1987, who died on 4th March 2018 in a hotel in Udine. Central defender, left-handed, number 13, captain of Fiorentina, was – and still is – mourned throughout the world of sport, and beyond. His funeral took place on Thursday 8th March 2018 at the Basilica of Santa Croce, in Florence, in the presence of 10,000 people. He rests in the cemetery of San Pellegrino Terme, in the province of Bergamo.
The Stadium “Artemio Franchi” in Florence
A work by Pier Luigi Nervi (Sondrio, 1891 – Rome, 1979), the Artemio Franchi Stadium was built between 1929 and 1932 in the Campo Marte district of Florence. Until 1991, the stadium was dedicated to Giovanni Berta, martyr of fascism killed by the communists. The current dedication is instead to Artemio Franchi, sports manager.
The stadium was built in the middle of the Fascist era: it has a D-shaped plan that evokes the DUX, a facade designed by Alessandro Giuntoli that is an example of rationalism and “Romanism”.
The most famous elements of the architecture of the Artemio Franchi Stadium are the helical stairs and the suspended platform roof.
The helical staircases protrude, they are detached from the structure, they are made of iron and reinforced concrete and represent the engineering virtuosity of Pier Luigi Nervi. The suspended platform roof is 110 meters long, 23 meters wide and has no vertical supports. It rests and unloads its weight on the ribs: a twentieth-century homage to Brunelleschi’s dome.
Finally, the Tower of Marathon should be remembered: 75 meters high, it is the only vertical element of the stadium, made of reinforced concrete, resting on the grandstand, another proof of the great study of static by Pier Luigi Nervi.
The tower evokes the famous Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, between Athens and the Persian Empire, the battle that decreed the beginning of the sport: according to legend, in fact, the emerodrome Fidippide ran without ever stopping from Maratona to Athens to announce victory and, having arrived there, he died from excessive effort.
According to the amendment included in the Simplification Decree, art. 55-bis of Legislative Decree no. 76/2020, the Artemio Franchi stadium risked demolition: in January 2021, Mibact intervened, indicating the changes that could be made, and thus protecting the safety of the monument.
The Football Museum in Coverciano
Credits: https://www.figc.it/it/museo-del-calcio/il-museo/la-storia/
The Football Museum (Museo del Calcio) is located in Coverciano, the south-east district of Florence. It was inaugurated on May 22nd, 2000 and aims to tell the story of the Italian national team and the FIGC.
The museum consists of five rooms: you can admire the relics of the Italian victories in the 1934 and 1938 World Championships, the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the jerseys worn by the most famous players during the matches. Then, some showcases are dedicated to the 2006 World Cup, the 2012 European Championships, the National Women’s and University’s National.
Don’t miss the showcase dedicated to the clothing worn by Fabio Cannavaro during the final against France in Berlin!
In the last rooms you can admire the triumphs of the championships of the 60s and 80s, as well as the victories neared by the Italian national team in the 70s and 90s.
“ASSI Giglio Rosso” in Florence
ASSI Giglio Rosso (Arno Italian Sports Society) was founded in 1922 along Viale Michelangelo, near the square of the same name.
Today it consists of a six-lane athletics track, six tennis courts, a soccer field, a volleyball court, a gym.
In 2011, the new two-storey building in copper, glass and ceramic granite was built by Riccardo Berti and Pietro Novelli: it fits perfectly into the environment and offers a library, a newspaper library and a photographic archive.
And to think that the ASI Giglio rosso was born in place of the “Gamberaia hole”, the nineteenth-century landfill located in the deepest bend of the Viale dei Colli!
Here, willing young people formed a multi-sports association engaged in football, running, cycling, wrestling and boxing, fencing and tambourine.
The English-style masonry and wood grandstand (unfortunately destroyed after the war) was built by Pier Luigi Nervi, who, a few years later, would be in charge of the Stadium “Artemio Franchi”.
Many famous athletes have passed through the ASI Giglio Rosso track: Giuseppe Lippi, Arturo Maffei, Gianni Stecchi, Stefano Mei, Angiolo Profeti, Silvano Meconi, Marco Montelatici, Alessandro Andrei and Fiona May.
The “Gino Bartali” Cycling Museum in Ponte a Ema
Gino Bartali (1914 – 2000) was a cyclist and a sports manager.
Winner of three Tours of Italy (1936, 1937, 1946) and two Tours de France (1938, 1948), in 2013 he was declared “Righteous among the Nations” for his work in favor of the Jews during the Second World War.
His phrase is famous: “Good is done, but it is not said. And certain medals hang on the soul, not on the jacket“.
He was buried in the cemetery of Ponte a Ema, and it is here that the “Friends of the Gino Bartali Cycling Museum Association” has dedicated a museum to him: here it is possible to admire the trophies and memorabilia linked to his career, as well as to observe historical racing and non-racing bicycles, made between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Gino Bartali Cycling Museum is the ideal museum to retrace the history of Italy on two wheels. Admission to the museum is free.
The “Società Canottieri” in Florence
Founded in 1886, it is the first Florentine rowing company, dressed in the heraldic colours of the coat of arms, white and red.
The Company organizes training courses in rowing for young people and teenagers and carries out basic physical activity for children during the summer, with specialized instructors recognized by CONI.
The prestigious headquarters of the Società Canottieri Firenze is a few strokes from Ponte Vecchio, just under the midday arm of the Uffizi Gallery! A place of unparalleled beauty, on the Lungarno Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici.
Do not miss the traditional New Year’s dive in the Arno: on the morning of January 1st, the brave rowers dive into the cold waters of the river and compete in a regatta to inaugurate the new year.
Sport-themed guided tours with My Flora Guide
Longing for jogging? Or booking the final match of “Calcio Storico” on June 24th in Piazza Santa Croce?
My Flora Guide will gladly organize sport-themed guided tours for you: for additional information please contact: info@myfloraguide.com
Useful links:
https://cultura.comune.fi.it/calcio-storico-fiorentino
https://salviamoilfranchi.org/
https://www.artribune.com/progettazione/architettura/2021/01/stadio-franchi-firenze-architettura/
https://www.figc.it/it/museo-del-calcio/il-museo/la-storia/
https://www.assigigliorosso.it/
https://www.ciclomuseo-bartali.it/
http://musefirenze.it/musei/museo-del-ciclismo-gino-bartali/
The cover photo is by Marco Asprea and Maurizio Russo, from the magazine “TuttoTurismo”, 2008.
ALL PHOTO CREDITS GO TO THE OWNERS
