In the third of a four-part series, we relive the curiosities of a tournament that sent Gabriel Batistuta to Stoke…
Pitch Perfect: An Interview With Udinese Head Groundsman Oliver Grice-Hewitt
We caught up with Udinese’s Head Grounds Manager, Oli Grice-Hewitt, to hear about the challenges of working in a new…
Retrocessione! How Misfortune And Mismanagement Sent Platt’s Bari Back To B
Bari’s charismatic President, Vincenzo Matarrese, had grandiose visions for his club. I Galletti had historically flitted between Italy’s first and second…
It’s Not Me, It’s You: The Story Of San Siro’s Abandoned Sectors
La Gazzetta last week reported that AC Milan had broken the record for gate receipts at San Siro. An official…
Home From Home: The Tales Of Italian Clubs Sacrificing Home Advantage In Europe
Inter’s visionary coach Helenio Herrera was a man ahead of his time. In the 1960s, he had been an early adopter…
Calcio Travel Notes: Bologna
Join us as we take a trip to Bologna’s Stadio Dall’Ara, one of Italian football’s provincial cathedrals and the canvas for…
The Extraordinary Busman’s Holiday: Riding With Sampdoria At The Peak Of Their Powers
Did you ever hear the one about the English bus driver who inadvertently became part of Sampdoria’s backroom staff at…
Misshapes, Mistakes, Misfits: The introduction of squad numbers in Italian football
It’s been almost thirty years since squad numbers became an established feature of the football landscape. Naturally, traditionalists mourned the loss of the…
Shirt Tales: Fabio Quagliarella
Telling the story of Fabio Quagliarella’s career through the medium of polyester… Sampdoria 2006/07 After coming through the ranks with…
What do robots know about Italian football? We challenged ChatGPT with some calcio questions…
For many years, experts have pondered whether traditional jobs will eventually be replaced by robots and artificial intelligence. With the…