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What is the Calcio Storico?
What is Calcio Storico Fiorentino?
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Is calcio storico a reenactment?
Apr 12, 2024 · What is Calcio Storico? The Calcio Storico Fiorentino is a combination of soccer, rugby and big time wrestling originated in 16th century Florence and played today in historical costume. The four teams of the historical neighborhoods of the city play against each other, first in two semi-finals and then the final match to determine the winner.
Calcio storico fiorentino (also known as calcio in livrea or calcio in costume) is an early form of football that originated during the Middle Ages in Italy. Once played, the sport is thought to have started in the Piazza Santa Croce in Florence .
- Overview
- An unlikely love story
- The games must go on
Will the coronavirus pandemic put an end to the bloody yet beloved sport of calcio storico?
Florentines have played calcio storico, or “historic football,” since the 15th century. This year, due to the pandemic, the sport has been postponed as locals ponder the game’s future.
Niccolò Innocenti is a baker in Florence. His bakery is named Pugi, and he bakes a bread so soft and fluffy, with oil and coarse salt married so perfectly, that it is famous all over Tuscany. People call it schiacciata “del Pugi” simply because there is nothing made anywhere else quite like it.
Nicco is proud of his bread, and he has managed to stay busy handling delivery orders during the past few months of coronavirus lockdown in Italy. Yet while Nicco’s work is rewarding and steady enough, there is something missing from his life during this strange time that he cannot replace with just takeout.
Blood.
“Normally, I’m feeling a lot of tension and anticipation at this period of the year,” he tells me. “This is a season that we have been training for. It’s when we get ready to fight.”
I first met Nicco and a slew of other calcianti about five years ago. I was living in Paris as a correspondent for the New York Times and went to Florence to do a story about calcio storico, an event I’d seen snippets of in online videos. It intrigued me as a sort of quirky sports novelty.
It did not take long to realize that locals see it very differently. This isn’t some kind of weird cosplay fight club (though no one will ever deny the violence is appealing), but rather an event emblematic of Florence’s spirit. Nicco told me back then that when he first participated in calcio storico, the sensation was nothing less than “the feeling of being a man.”
When we connect again last month, he says that even though the teams are not able to hold actual practices right now, he has been running and “lifting an armchair in the house” anyway (the chair weighs about 30 pounds) because he has an obligation to stay in shape.
Left:
Fans of the Azzurri (Blues) of Santa Croce cheer on their team. Calcio storico includes four teams—Bianchi, Rossi, Verdi, and Azzurri—representing the four historic neighborhoods of Florence.
Photograph by AWL Images, DanitaDelimont.com
At this point, you may be wondering how it could ever be possible to stage an event like this–that is, an event where people are frequently covered in the bodily fluids of others–in a way that is safe and sanitary.
It is a reasonable question. Filippo Giovanelli, an executive overseeing the parade and other components of the calcio storico celebration, has been thinking about it for months, talking over and over with other officials about potential modifications.
“The situation is tragicomic,” he tells me, raising his palms. “We cannot have a parade with masks. We cannot have a game without grappling. But we must be able to do something.”
Andrea Vannucci, a deputy mayor who oversees city traditions, is similarly flummoxed by what could be done but says he keeps coming back to the history of the game itself. Calcio storico is believed to date back as far as the late 1400s, but its most famous moment came in 1530, when Florentines went ahead and played the game despite the fact their city was under siege from the army of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
That defiance–the commitment to maintaining the tradition even while under attack–became a part of the game’s majesty. Nothing, not even war, would dictate to Florentines they couldn’t play.
“In 1530, the enemy was the troops,” Andrea says during a video interview last month, sighing as he rolls out a cigarette. “In 2020, it’s not the troops; it’s the virus. So, this is our foe. Our people are frightened. And we have to figure out what we can do to give hope to the city again.”
Sep 22, 2021 · The Calcio Storico Fiorentino is an ancient sport, deeply rooted in the Florentine tradition. The matches are played in the wonderful Piazza di Santa Croce, where every June the four districts of Florence fight for glory dressed up with traditional medieval costumes, creating an intense and colourful show, a mixture of rugby, soccer and Greco ...
- Fabrizio Mariani
Jun 22, 2017 · Calcio Storico (Historical football) is a game thought up by 16th-century Florentines and as the name suggests, it's an early - and very violent - form of football. It was also known as giuoco del calcio fiorentino (Florentine kicking game) and was very popular several centuries ago.
- catherine.edwards@thelocal.com
May 31, 2017 · The Calcio Storico Fiorentino (historic football) is one of the most important traditions of Florence. The game is also known with the name of Calcio in Costume (football in costume) because the players wear traditional costumes.
The Calcio Storico, one of Florence's bloodiest games, is part sport, part, brawl, and part historical reenactment.
