L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano I n 16th century Italy, Italians played a sport called Calcio Fiorentino. It is an extremely violent game, and combines ele- ments of soccer, rugby and bare- knuckle fighting into one brutal and bloody event. Some history books say it was played by rich aristocrats, and sometimes even Popes, Clement VII, Leo XI and Urban VIII were said to be par- ticularly fond of the game and often joined in. I find that hard to believe. After all, rich aristocrats and Popes didn't even dress them- selves in those days, so it's diffi- cult to imagine them jumping into the middle of such a bloody and brutal sport. And by the time the Popes were elected Pope, they were old and kind of on the chubby side and well, you be the judge. Does this seem to be a sport for chubby, old men? The truth is Calcio Fiorentino is a blood sport and because it is such a brutal game, the Italians stopped playing it sometime around the 17th century. But t h e n , i n 1 9 3 0 , a g r o u p o f Florentines decided to revive it. T r a d i t i o n a l l y C a l c i o Fiorentino, or calcio storico (his- toric football), is played on a sand field that is twice as long as it is wide. At each end, there is a net goal that stretches the width of the field. There are 27 men from each team, and they are all on the f i e l d a t t h e s a m e t i m e . T h a t means there are 54 men knock- ing the bejeebers out of each other for 50 full minutes, which i s h o w l o n g t h e g a m e l a s t s . When the 50 minutes of insane brutality are over, whichever team scored the most points wins. T o s c o r e a g o a l , w h i c h i s called a caccia, players have to put the ball into the opponents' net. Easier said than done as all the while you are trying to put the ball in the other teams net, they are hard at work beating you about the head and shoul- ders. And don't take a shot for the goal unless you know you are going to make it because if you miss, the other team gets half a caccia. T h e r e a r e o t h e r r u l e s , o f c o u r s e . K i c k i n g , p u n c h i n g , head-butting and choking are all allowed, but you'll get booted o u t o f t h e g a m e i f y o u a r e caught throwing a sucker punch or kicking an opponent in the head. Biting the ears off of your o p p o n e n t i s n o t e n c o u r a g e d either, nor is ganging up on one player. While there are referees on PHYLLIS MACCHIONI The toughest sport in the world: Calcio Storico Fiorentino the field, you can spot them by their spiffy red and white pan- t a l o o n s , b u t t h e y o n l y g e t i n v o l v e d i f a f i g h t o r b r a w l breaks out. While you can smash the bejeebers out of your oppo- n e n t w h e n y o u a r e t r y i n g t o score a caccia, you can't just beat them into the ground and continue to do so without a ref- eree coming over and chastising you. After all, the object of the game is to put the ball in the net, not kill the people you're play- ing against. There's no way of telling if those rules always applied, espe- cially back in the day when the Greeks ran things. They played a version of this game that they called Sfermomachia. The game was later adopted by the Roman army and transformed into a type of warrior training. The Romans called it Harpastum, which in Latin literally means to rip off – like rip off your head. The Romans loved the con- tinuous body-to-body, head to head combat for possession of the ball, it brought out their i n n e r g l a d i a t o r a n d i t w a s through their love of the game that it spread throughout the Roman Empire. For all we know the Romans could have been playing calcio Fiorentino back in 59 A.D. when t h e y f o u n d e d t h e c i t y o f F i o r e n z a , n o w k n o w n a s Florence. Anything is possible. One thing we do know is that by the second half of the 5th centu- ry, calcio was so popular among young Florentines that they often p l a y e d i t i n t h e s t r e e t s a n d squares of the city. And one win- ter, back in 1490 when the Arno River was completely frozen over, they marked off a field and played a few games on the ice. The game is now played in Florence as a tournament during the 3rd week of June. Florence is divided into quadrants and each quadrant provides one team to play. After two opening games, the two remaining teams play in t h e f i n a l . T h e c h a m p i o n s h i p game is played on June 24th, w h i c h i s S a n G i o v a n n i ( S t . John's Day), San Giovanni being the Patron Saint of Florence. Each team fights its hardest to win the grand prize, a cow! Not just any cow, but a Chianina cow which is one of the largest cattle in the world, and also one of the oldest in existence. Their meat is delicious and the best cut i s u s e d f o r b i s t e c c a a l l a Fiorentina, a massive T-bone steak. What better way to celebrate a win than to fire up the grill and share a steak dinner with your teammates and their families. L a u g h i f y o u w a n t , b u t t h e I t a l i a n s k n o w w h a t t h e y a r e doing, after all, a shiny metal Winner's Cup isn't very tasty, now it is. Phyllis Macchioni is a Italian American writer who lives on the Italian Riviera. She is the author of a recently published c o l l e c t i o n o f e s s a y s e n t i t l e d "This Italian Life – People and Places", available on Amazon. V i s i t h e r b l o g a t h t t p s : / / www.thisitalianlife.blogspot.com o r f o l l o w h e r a t h t t p s : / / www.facebook.com/phyllis.mac- chioni Email:phyllisinitaly@ gmail.com. Twitter: @phyllisinitaly LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE Fighting players during Calcio Fiorentino match. Calcio fiorentino (calcio storico or calcio in costume) is an historic florentine game, origins of modern football— Photo by Malgorzata_Kistryn P l a y e r s o f C a l c i o S t o r i c o d u r i n g s t r e e t p a r a d e . P h o t o b y Malgorzata_Kistryn Florentine historical football is a sport like no other. It has a long tradition with unusual rules

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