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Piazza Santa Croce, the Bianchi celebrates their The Rossi celebrate their victory in Piazza Santa Croce
victory against the Azzurri after the final match

Nevertheless, the on-field violence acquires meaning only if and a game of Calcio Storico, which were as historically ac-
it is interpreted within the narration portrayed by the Proces- curate as possible. From that moment on, with only one short
sion: a historical event that helped create that spirit of “Flor- interlude during the war years (and the year of Covid-19),
entine-ness” made of pride, courage, and irreverence which, there is a re-enactment every June of the famous game that
every year, the calcianti still bring to life with their exploits. was played in 1530. That year, the Florentines of the Republic
In fact, calcio was played in Florence long before the rules were besieged by the troops of Charles V and nearing de-
of sporting football were codified in England. But it wasn’t the feat; they decided to play a match of their giuoco anyway, to
same game we all know today. It was played primarily dur- bolster the morale of the people within the city walls, and to
ing the 16th century, when scions of the nobility (and others) taunt those outside.
competed in the city’s piazzas in a ball game that served as Since then, thanks to the re-enactment of the Proces-
entertainment, but also and above all, as an arena for training sion and the athletic prowess of the calcianti, this gesture of
and the celebration of the “courtly” virtues. The tradition was pride and bitter scorn helps define, strengthen, and modern-
lost under the House of Lorraine, but it was re-proposed in ize an idea of “Florentine-ness,” which real and fictional char-
1930 by a number of scholars with the support of the Fascist acters (My Friends by Monicelli) have helped make concrete
ruling class; they sorted through documents, found inspira- over the years, in a social representation of what it means to
tion in paintings of the era, and organized a military parade be a Florentine – now, as then.

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