 by Silvia Messeri
photos: Sandro Pintus
The Historic Florentine Football Game
Its origins
The origins of the historic Florentine football
game, at least those recorded with any precision, date from February 17th
1530 when Florence was besieged by Charles V's Imperial troups.
People in the procession in the
old city centre |
This was when a game was played in Piazza Santa Croce between the White
and the Green teams, as a sign of contempt and provocation towards the
enemy.
Marquis Pucci with the extras
before the match |
A sport with similar characteristics, called "Arpasto", is known to have
been popular among the Roman legionaries in ancient Florence; the game
does in fact use the same pattern as that employed for the battle order
of the Roman army. In the 1500's, it was usually played in the major Forentine
squares, like Piazza Santo Spirito, Piazza Santa Maria Novella and Piazza
Santa Croce. A field of sand was spread over the site chosen for the four
teams to meet; these were the Green, Red, White and Blue teams who represented
the Florentine quarters of the period: San Giovanni, Santa Maria Novella,
Santo Spirito and Santa Croce.
People in the procession in
Piazza S.Croce before the match |
The matches were played at Carnival time or on special occasions; the
game itself, which was very rough, was played by the young nobles who
wanted to show off their prowess in order to win the love of the noble
ladies of Florence. The tradition of playing these historic football matches
continued almost without interruption until the 18th century and then
was abandoned until 1930. Since then, three games are regularly played
every year between the end of June, during the feast of St. John, the
patron saint of Florence, and the beginning of July. See
also: Right on time as usual the Historic Florentine
Football Game
|
