Empoli

The name Empoli is one that you might regularly see in the Serie A results and league tables, but who knows exactly where it is? Empoli is tucked just South West of the Tuscan capital, Firenze, a mere 12 miles away! The train to Pisa and Livorno will stop in Empoli soon after pulling out of Santa Maria Novella station in Firenze, making it an easy destination for football from either direction, or indeed from Siena as well, as the more direct southern rail line stops in Empoli, albeit it is more than an hours travel between the two towns.

Empoli is a very tidy little town, and with a population of just 48,000, regularly hosting top flight football in the modern era is even more remarkable. I was first in Empoli in September 2007 merely filling in time before the “big” one the day after in San Giovanni Valdorno, south east of Firenze in the direction of Arezzo, where the local charges, and a bit of a mouthful Sangiovannese were hosting my boys Ancona for a Sunday afternoon Serie C joust!

In the lead up to that particular trip, Italy had been long dogged by trouble at many games, Empoli’s opponents that day were Inter Milan, whose fans had somehow managed to smuggle a moped into the San Siro, set it on fire and hurled it down a tier! Something needed to give, and in an effort to curb the violence, and clean up the image of the Italian game, the clubs in the top two leagues (now extended to the top three tiers) had a number of stringent requirements imposed. The first was a need to have turnstiles, a fundamental of a British stadium, and an obstacle that used to be averted as a kid if your father could lift you over! Those days are long gone sadly, but this was not only a novelty in Italy, it caused outrage. The second requirement, a blight on Calcio to this day, is the excessively detailed, individualised ticket. Having been at games in Italy for more than twenty years at that point, this over the top requirement, and constant checking at Empoli, and later that day at Pisa where I didn’t even get to the game, it left a bad taste. Similar nonsense at Mantova the following month saw a brief falling out with Italian football. It would be three years before I would go back, but the thing is, while it is still not perfect, and finances of Italian clubs is a fraught thing, you will always go back to your first love and forgive her, I did anyway!! But never forget your passport!!

I have written many a tale from Italy for Football Weekends, and I have long dreamed of writing an article without any bankruptcy to report, and would you believe it, we have found one! US Empoli have been going since 1920 and they haven’t suffered any such blight, thereby making this tidy wee Tuscan towns team a very well run outfit, well done them! They did change the club name to Empoli FC just after the war but through choice and not from dodging financial responsibilities! It is fair to say, the first sixty years of their existence certainly did not set the heather on fire, save a brief four season sojourn in Serie B just after the aforementioned war. They may show financial consistency, and for twenty years from 1962 they stayed resolutely in Serie C1 (the third tier) before nudging back into Serie B after a 35 year absence in 1982. This is where the Empoli story really takes off, and four years later they were promoted to Serie A for the first ever time. There Carlo Castellani stadium was not fit for top tier football and the clubs first ever Serie A home fixture had to be held in Firenze. Inter were the visitors that day and it all started so brilliantly for Empoli winning 1-0. By the end of that inaugural season they had survived, just, with a mere 23 points, aided by

Udinese starting the campaign with minus nine points. Empoli scored just 13 goals in thirty games and stayed up!!

Second seasons are notoriously tricky to negotiated, but prior to it starting, the club had transgressed in some shape or form and they were hampered by a five point deduction. The rap across the knuckles proved too much as they were relegated, but the hurt, or fall out from this indiscretion was still with them in Serie B as they went down again. In many respects Empoli were back home, back in that third tier comfort zone, and they languished at this level for another seven years until 1996, flying straight through B and back into Serie A, where a young Luciano Spalletti kept them up, finishing a creditable 12th. Second season syndrome kicked in again, this time relegated with no points deducted, but more importantly, they stabilised in the second tier for three seasons before heading up again for a third time in 2002, and a 4th in 2005! This period of time was when Fiorentina were away from the top flight having gone bust, leaving little Empoli as the flag bearers for Tuscan football in Serie A! _{The fourth go at the top table brought a tenth place finish, and with all the match fixing} shenanigans going on amongst Italy’s elite, Empoli joined Tuscan rivals Livorno, who finished 9th, as potential European representatives the following season! I say potentially, Livorno did play, but Empoli hadn’t applied for a UEFA license and couldn’t participate! Whether it was annoyance or anger at such managerial stupidity that pushed them on, but they finished high enough to finally get a crack at Europe the following season, albeit a brief affair losing 4-2 on aggregate to FC Zurich despite winning 2-1 in the home leg. The European endeavours season brought with it yet another relegation, and the yo-yo sequence continued between the top two flights, but they had to flirt with a further relegation in a two legged Serie B play out with Vicenza in 2012. A goalless first leg, then saw Vicenza race into a 2-0 lead with 30 minutes to go, but a remarkable comeback was sealed by club legend Massimo Maccarone (still banging them in for Carrarese) who got the all important third deep into injury-time for the win, and safety.

Empoli are now in their sixth visit to Serie A having just stepped up in the summer as Serie B Champions. They are perennial relegation candidates, and this season is no different. Despite that, they don’t play a dull style of football, and any matches I have seen this season on TV involving Empoli have always been open and exciting. Such a style will win you friends, but it might not be good enough to retain top flight football, but hovering just outside the relegation places at the time of writing, and with the bottom three largely a messy trio, if Empoli can get a few more points on the board, they might delay that downward yo-yo gig into that tricky second campaign again!

Aside from the excessive four scrutinies of my passport and ticket at Empoli back in 2007, it was a near full Stadio Carlo Castellani (capacity 16,284). Inter won 2-0 that day, but more recently when I was in Tuscany recovering from being locked in at Livorno’s stadium, a couple of days later I was at it again, walking in through randomly open gates at Empoli! They were playing at home to Milan that night, but it had been moved from the Wednesday to Thursday for TV, the night I was flying home thereby denying me a rare Milan double at Empoli albeit 12 years on! I even managed to find myself in the Corporate Hospitality suite

where the tables were all lavishly set for one of the biggest home fixtures of the season, and a bit like Livorno, I never met a soul! The stadium has two sizeable, two tiered stands running the length of the pitch on both sides with that annoying running track gig acting as an additional buffer. The other stands have been long standing “temporary” scaffold stands, still there today as they were 12 years ago!

Arrival at Empoli railway station is a twenty five minute walk to the ground, but it is a very straight forward and leisurely walk. If you head straight down the road in front of the station, it will take you through the tidy town centre Piazza Della Vittoria, where the club shop can be found on the left hand side. You can buy your match tickets here if you are early or a day or two ahead of a game, but nearer kick off, expect to buy at the stadium. If you continue on straight through the piazza, at the next road junction that appears on the right, you want to head along to the right and little by little the pylons on the stadium will appear. It is just across the next road junction and through a little parkland in the vicinity and you are there!

If you are in town early, from that club shop Piazza Della Vittoria, the jewel of Empoli is nearby, known at La Fontana dei Leoni in the middle of a small but exquisite piazza, a mere ten minutes from the shop. Around the stadium, unless the catering vans tick your box, you won’t find a bar or a restaurant very close by. Having a good meal in the centre of the town, washed down with a good pint, or more especially a glass, or bottle from the splendid array of Tuscan wines would be recommended, unless of course you find yourself in the delightful club hospitality suite, where by the looks of it, you’ll be well looked after!!

Carlo Levi wrote a book “Christ stopped at Eboli”, which could easily be confused with Empoli, but my investigations suggest it wasn’t Empoli after as I like to josh!!