Italy may now be one of the leading names in world football, but association football came to the country relatively late. Italy in the late 1880s was a newly...
Read MoreCristiano Lucarelli & Livorno: A bond forged in red
Making your debut is never easy. But as Cristiano Lucarelli started his first game for the Azzurrini, Italy’s under-21 side, he was in familiar surroundings. Livorno was Lucarelli’s home....
Read MoreVines of Glory: Andrea Pirlo’s greatest moments re-imagined as fine wines
The Maestro exhales, his wooden chair creaking back and forth as he finally takes a seat. The sun begins to set over the hills of Fiero, illuminating the vineyard...
Read MoreA Roman epic: Lazio’s 1999/00 Scudetto triumph
The date was May 18, 2000 and the new millennium was in full force: the Olsen Brothers had recently won the Eurovision Song Contest for Denmark, Britney Spears had...
Read MoreAdriano: Inter’s Brazilian superstar who flew too close to the sun
The story of Icarus and his father, Daedalus, is one of recklessness that results in a tragic fall from grace. It also provoked the idiom “Don’t fly too close...
Read MoreRed and blue rivals: Bologna, Genoa and the great theft of 1925
In 1925, Italy was in the grip of fascism. Following a campaign of scare tactics and violence that began with the 1922 March on Rome, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini,...
Read MoreThe Brazilian Mancini: The €1000 man who danced and dazzled for Roma
Serie A has been blessed with outstanding Brazilians over the last 50 years. The list is almost endless: Aldair, Adriano, Branco, Cafu, Careca, Dunga, Julio Cesar, Kaka, Rivaldo, Roberto...
Read MoreThe launch of Golazio London: Calcio comes to Camberwell Road
Preamble Here at Gentleman Ultra we have long dreamed of having a place where we could hang out with like-minded souls and indulge in our love of 90s Italian...
Read MoreDeath & resurrection: Last rites administered to historic Italian clubs
While Juventus and Real Madrid finessed the details of Cristiano Ronaldo’s €340m-valued transfer, a distant funeral bell tolled for three historic Italian clubs – a scenario that accentuated the...
Read MoreFrance ’98 and the staffetta: Baggio vs. Del Piero, the race for Italy’s no. 10
Origins If the word ‘staffetta’ is translated into English, it roughly means relay. The word is generally associated with athletics – contests between two or more teams in running...
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