Dave’s Football Blog

Now this is real Italian football. You don’t see any Calcio Fiorentino players flopping to the ground like dead fish. No, these are men of the renaissance, men of nobility, men who dress up in the colors of their town, jump into a sand pit with two goals and a ball and beat the living crap out of each other. Forza!

Calcio Fiorentino (which is now called Calcio Storico, or “Historic Football”) was once the primary football game of Italy. It might have been a direct descendant of Harpastum, though it probably evolved into something else after so many centuries. Sometimes the Pope would jump in and start kicking ass and taking names. Presumably, anyone who tackled the Pope would be forgiven for it later.

The first written rules were published in 1580, though the game itself was played for centuries before then. In fact, the most famous Calcio Fiorentino match was played on February 17, 1530, when the city of Florence was under siege by the Spanish army. Playing a Calcio match in full view of enemy soldiers was the ultimate message of defiance, and that message was, “You can take our homes, you can take our land, you can take our women, and you can even take our dignity, but you will never take our football! So there! Eat it!”

Calcio died out by 1739, but it was resurrected in the 1930s by Benito Mussolini to celebrate Italian pride. They still play it in Florence today. It’s mostly an excuse for the locals to punch out those bastards who nailed their girlfriends — which is probably just how it was back then, too. Settling scores has always been a big part of football, after all.

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