It is a curious thing but why are their so many clubs in Italy that play in maroon? or “Granata” as they’d call it. Now here is a little test as to how immersed in Calcio you are! How many Italian clubs who play in maroon can you name? If you come up with “1-3” you are more likely to merely have a passing interest; if you can name “4-6” then you have a genuine enthusiasm for the Italian game, and probably miss the CalcioItalia magazine and James Richardson like me, but if you can name any more than six, you are a proper Calcio tifoso! I can think of ten! So have a bit of fun and see how many you can name. I’ll pop the “dieci” at the end of this article! A give away Granata, Livorno are one of the ten!
The things your intrepid writer does for FW’s and my endeavours to catch the perfect photo! With a 9pm KO I decided to head out to the Stadio Armando Picchi, (Stadio Communale is even more visible as its previous name), and get some daylight photos of the stadium. I arrived at the main entrance and the door was open, so it seemed rude not to step in. There seemed to be no one around, but beyond the foyer I could see the light streaming in from the pitch! Seconds later I was out in the sunlight of the mainstand, and I just helped myself to striding up and down the stairs looking good views from various angles, the labours of that effort you can see here! The problem came when I tried to head out! Somewhere amid my photographic frenzy, the staff, who must have been squirreled away, had left the premises and padlocked the door! That evenings game was a little but special for me as it was my 250th different stadium around the world watching a game, and to celebrate this occasion, I was now locked in!! If only I had found a ball, I could have had a wee moment on the pitch!! Oddly I wasn’t unduly fretting, I knew their was a game, albeit in seven hours time, they’d be back! Sitting in the centre stand mulling over my predicament I noticed two vans parked within the confines of the stadium in a corner in front of sizeable gates. As luck would have it they operated on a pushbar style from the inside, so I duly pushed e viola, I was out! I closed the door behind me and strode out through the main gates without a soul ever knowing I had been there!
In uploading a few photos of the Livorno ground to an online football stadium website, I had a few comments from one or two who have chosen Livorno as their Italian club purely on what they perceived was its “left wing” tag. I was assured the Red Flag of Communism would be flying over the stadium, and they were Italy’s St Pauli etc, but I never saw any evidence of either. Perhaps in a more genuine “left wing” style Livorno fans might carry that position in their hearts, but don’t pander to the excessively caricatured, lost sight of its original ideals like St Pauli. Having club shops in NY, really?! In the case of Livorno, no red flag was flying, no communist banners visible, and not as much as trestle table selling souvenirs outside the ground, let alone a Club Shop! They are undoubtedly a “left wing” fanbase, with a certain notoriety, especially if pitched against “right wing” clubs like Lazio, but their real beef is with local rivals Pisa, it is one of great rivalries of lower league calcio!
A trip to Livorno has been a long, long time in coming for me, most recently aborted last year due to the city suffering terrible floods! In 1988, in escaping the Adriatic coastal rains, my first ever sojourn to Ancona just happened to be the day after the city had been celebrating promotion back to Serie B after fifty odd years, and guess who’d been the visitors? Livorno! A 3-0 thumping at the old and much missed Stadio Dorico, saw the city turned red and white. It must have been quite a party, I was sold! So much so in late May 2003, having already been at a number of Ancona games, I booked flights, trains etc to see two matches, away at Lecce, and home to Venezia. These were the third last and penultimate games of the Serie B season, and Ancona were on course for a relatively quick return to Serie A having previously sampled top flight for the first time on a one season only gig in 1993/94! Lecce away is a story in itself, I was standing outside the away end awaiting the Ancona fans arriving by coach and especially my friend Claudio. It is a lengthy trip, and upon their arrival some of the Ultras immediately went to bat with the police to vent frustration as they’d been couped up in the buses going round and round the city bypass until nearer kick off. Ancona lost, they never win away from home when I go to see them, including a third tier game at little Sangiovannese! The Lecce police were in unforgiving mood, and they held the considerable Ancona support for an hour after the game in the stadium. It was a night game anyway, but I am sure it was 23,30 when we were “kettled” towards the buses despite not one Lecce fan being visible. My next problem was that I was staying in Lecce and only Claudio’s pleading with the police saw them relent and let me out of the bus herding! It was a relatively long walk back into the centre of the city from the stadium, and I never saw one person, or a car in that entire walk! Lecce was fast asleep! Anyway, the following weekend at home to Venezia, with promotion unable to be confirmed even with a win, it was not looking good even for any kind of stepping up as we struggled against a determined and well organised Venetian side. Going into injury-time at 1-1, Petrovic’s magic finally unlocked the visiting defence for his second goal of the game and absolute bedlam ensued. It was without doubt, the high point of my 23 games in Ancona thus far! Promotion could be sealed the following week with a draw, but alas I had to fly home, but where did they clinch the last promotion to Serie A? Yip, here in Livorno!! So stadium 250 was a landmark but also a chance to pay my personal homage to the last great Ancona team. Ironically, the visitors for my game here in Livorno? Lecce, it all dovetailed nicely together!!
Livorno Calcio were one of the original Serie A teams but following a number of seasons in the sun in the ’30’s and a giddy high in 1942/43 finishing second to Torino, they went 55 years without Serie A coming to town! Having watched Ancona celebrating on their pitch in 2002/03, it may have acted as a catalyst to inspiring a promotion push, as the following season, it was Livorno who were celebrating, and they could wave bye, bye to Ancona as they passed them headed in the opposite direction. It was the start of my teams slide to an 8th tier oblivion which began slowly that year! Livorno had a lad called Cristiano Lucarelli in the forward line, and he knew where the goal was, finishing that inaugural season as the top scorer in Serie A with the club finishing in a highly respectable 9th place! The following season was a similar finish, but it oddly brought European football to the Tuscan coastal town for the only time in the clubs history, as it was the notorious summer when some of Italy’s big boys got their fingers caught in the “match fixing” scandal cookie jar. They put up creditable performances too, seeing off Pasching of Austria to get into the Group stages. In those days, groups of five clubs saw you play two games at home and two away. Despite losing at home 2-3 to Glasgow Rangers, and failing to win the other home encounter with Maccabi Haifa, a draw in Belgrade against Partizan and win in France versus Auxerre set up a Round of 32 match up with Espanyol from Barcelona who won both legs en route to the final, where they lost on penalties to Sevilla at Hampden at a match where I was in amongst the Sevilla fans!!
After Lucarelli was sold to Shakhtar Donetsk the clubs Serie A fortunes started to faulter, and they were relegated in ’07/08, but bounced straight back the year after. A subsequent relegation and another promotion in 12/13 was seeing them become a yo-yo club, but they’d quickly slip back to Serie B and through the trap door to the third tier, Serie C. After just one season at that level, they are just back in Serie B, having edged out Siena and more delightfully, Pisa in winning their division. For a time they were managed by the aforementioned hero, Cristiano Lucarelli, albeit after struggling in the early fixtures to bed into the second tier, he was sacked. No bankruptcy issues?, I hear you cry! Well, sadly yes, but all the way back in 1991! Getting that out of the way a lot earlier than many, and it brought the penalty of slipping down into what was then the 6th tier, the Tuscan Excellenza division!
The Armando Picchi stadium, named after a famous ex player, has a fabulous “art decor” facade to the main stand, and the doors under the lavish glass is where I slipped in, and the ones they padlocked while I was clicking away! Long before the advent of “apps” to bring the results of the world to our immediate attention I used to head up to Edinburgh’s High Street at lunch time once a week where I had the Italian football bible Guerin Sportivo on order. It was a few days after it was issued in Italy, but this excellent publication relayed all the results, tables and photos needed to keep a kean eye on the Italian game! Livorno were a particular fascination, as prior to their bankruptcy issue, the ’80’s were a period of largely third tier football for the Tuscans, but they always seemed to play in front of near full houses. Livorno are a well supported team, in a town passionate for its football, I liked that! They still turn out in sizeable numbers, but the capacity at 19,238 is rarely troubled these days. It is a “classic” older style Italian ground with one of those rarely used running tracks round it, and only a roof over the main stand. Oddly, for a city where Italian communism was founded, the stadiums first name at it’s inauguration in 1935 was Stadio Edda Ciano Mussolini, named after Mussolini’s daughter! Even more oddly it was briefly known as the Yankee Stadium in the post war years!! Whether an American garrison was in the city at the time, your guess is as good as mine!
The stadium is in a rather well to do housing area, not too far from the coast, but at the bottom of the short road down to Livorno’s coastline. The sea is out of sight though as the Italian Navy have a significant compound blocking the view! Somewhere to get a beer, or a pizza are distinctly lacking in the vicinity! I found a Pasticceria to have a spot of lunch after my “lock-in”, but that was well over a kilometre away from the stadium. Enjoy the delights of the city centre before heading to the ground I would suggest!
Both Livorno and Lecce were just back in Serie B, and especially for Lecce, a welcome return having been languishing for a few too many seasons in the third tier. Both clubs were managed by young and ambitious well known ex-players of a higher level. The aforementioned Lucarelli at Livorno, but how often does an ex playing hero make a good coach? Lecce have Fabio Liverani, whose career highs would have been at Lazio and Fiorentina. The visitors immediately looked more of a cohesive unit, and they raced into the lead. Livorno had plenty of possession, but it was slow, ponderous and lacking a cutting edge. At the start of the second half, Lecce broke with lightening speed twice in quick succession with devastating affect and at 0-3, some of the fans started heading for the exits, but the core home fans only showed a morsel of distress at the result on the final whistle with a few “boooo’s”. It was a work in progress, but results didn’t improve quickly enough to save even a club legend from the chop, and Lucarelli has been replaced by Roberto Breda, who would guide them towards safety, while Lecce’s exciting brand of football propelled them to a double promotion and back to Serie A. One season on, things hadn’t got any better for Livorno at the time Covid caused the league being stopped, A return to the third tier is not what they would wish, but it seems inevitable. Livorno is a progressive and ambitious city, as well as team, things can only get better,.
How did you get on naming the “maroon” clubs of Italy? Torino, Cittadella, Livorno, Pontedera, Arezzo, Reggiana, Fano, Salernitana, Reggina and Trapani!
Football Adventures with James Rendall 