Football is simply part of modern Italian culture. Let’s find out a bit more about it.

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Image by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@elimirana">elimirana</a>

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Welcome to Football in Milan

Here’s a little street called Via Berchet.&nbsp;The institution "Fiaschetteria Toscana ", which translates as “Tuscany Tavern, used to be at No. 1. The so-called headquarters of Milan Football Club was right here.

The cradle of football

A few years after it was founded, A.C. Milan snapped in half! It all started when the Italian Football Federation forbade teams that had foreign players in them to play in domestic championships. And so some of the players were against having foreigners – or legionnaires, as they’re called – play for the “Red-Blacks”, and some players were outraged at such a viewpoint.&nbsp;They were led by futurist painter and cartoonist Georgio Mudzhiani.

Founding of Inter Milan

This stadium isn’t just the oldest one in Milan but in the whole of Italy.&nbsp;It was built on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte.

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Image 2012-04-27 Milano Arena Civica curva e ingressi lato nord by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Blackcat" target="_blank">Blackcat</a>

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Arena Civica

In Italy, they call football fans “tifosi”. Fan groups do exist here, including followers of fascism. There are the ultras groups who support A.C. Milan. During a match, they show their support by means of flags, emblems, banners, and flares, i.e. in completely visual ways. They don’t chant at all. But the “left” ultras, the anti-fascist football groups, are the opposite: they are the noisiest fans.

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Image Inter fans. Derby - 2009 by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Lori-m&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1">Lori-m</a>

👣  Football fans

The most famous sports bar in Milan is “442” or “FourFourTwo” at 61 Via Giulio Cesare Procaccini. It’s often packed with supporters, especially during the Milan Derby.

Milan’s sports bars

He’s one of the richest men in Italy.&nbsp;He’s also a politician, and the owner of A.C. Milan.

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Image Silvio Berlusconi July 2019 by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Edelseider" title="User:Edelseider">Edelseider</a>

👣  Silvio Berlusconi – the chief “devil”

Just one hundred years ago, the headquarters of A.C. Milan football club was a tavern on Via Berchet. Then for a few decades, they had their office in the city centre, on Via Turati. Today, the “red-blacks” don’t just have an office for their headquarters, they have a whole seven-storey building at 8 Via Aldo Rossi. It’s al-so called “Casa Milan”, i.e. “Milan House”.

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Image Casa Milan by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:UserBG&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" title="User:UserBG (page does not exist)">UserBG</a>

Casa Milan

Giuseppe Meazza was born in Milan. As a kid, he loved football, and he started his own club, “Costanza”, when he was just 13. About a year later Giuseppe tried to join A.C. Milan, the team he supported, but he was a very thin young boy and the “red-blacks” refused categorically to take him.&nbsp;

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Image Giuseppe meazza 1937 by <a class="new mw-userlink" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Leadero~commonswiki&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1" title="User:Leadero~commonswiki (page does not exist)"><bdi>Leadero~commonswiki</bdi></a>

👣  Giuseppe Meazza

If a city has two famous football clubs, you don’t need to go to a fortune-teller to know that the two clubs will battle each other for supremacy.&nbsp;Those matches are called “the derby”.

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Image Adriano score vs Milan February 2009 by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:%CE%95%E1%BD%90%CE%B8%CF%85%CE%BC%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B7%CF%82" title="User:Εὐθυμένης">Εὐθυμένης</a>

👣  The Milan Derby

The stadium was built in the first half of the 20th century for football club A.C. Milan. It got its first name, San Siro, owing to the fact that it was built beside a church. The stadium had four stands and could hold up to 35,000 people.

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Image San Siro vue extérieur by <a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Marcus_Cyron" target="_blank">Marcus Cyron</a>

Giuseppe Meazza Stadium (San Siro)

This is the museum of Milan’s two football clubs. It contains all manner of awards, trophies, banners, flags, jerseys, boots, soccer balls...&nbsp;You’re also allowed to visit the players’ locker rooms. And you can also go through the tunnel that the players go through to come out onto the field.

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Image San Siro Museum by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ank_gsx" title="User:Ank gsx">Ank gsx</a>

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San Siro Museum

In fact, there are lots of commercial stalls scattered around the city, where you can buy souvenirs on the theme of football. There’s one right in the grounds of Georgio Meazza Stadium.

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Image Il biscione e l'fc Internazionale III by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:PeeJay2K3" target="_blank">PeeJay2K3</a>

San Siro Store

Our football day has come to an end! Thank you for attention!

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Image AC Milan wall by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Flickr_upload_bot" target="_blank">Flickr upload bot</a>

👣  Conclusion

Football is simply part of modern Italian culture. Let’s find out a bit more about it.

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Milan

Football in Milan, or “The Ball is Master of All”

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