A guide to calcio and culture throughout Veneto, one of the great regions of Italy. Due for publication in Football Weekends at the end of February/March.
Veneto is one of the most visited regions of Italy, or should I qualify that and say, in normal times. The jewel of the region, Venice will have largely returned to a city for the locals these last months, and I know that those not involved in the tourist industry will be revelling in the new ambience. Veneto stretches from the Eastern shores of Lake Garda and Verona in the West of the region to beyond Venezia and the beach resorts of Jesolo and Caorle in the East. It’s northern border reaches significantly far north into the realm of the Dolomite, an area known as Belluno, which goes all the way to the Tirol borderlands, while Rovigo to the south is the border town before dropping into the next region, Emilia Romagna.
William Shakespeare certainly was one of the first “foreign” writers to be obsessed with Italy, even though he never visited. He was especially drawn to Veneto with five plays that I can recall being set in three of the great cities of the region. The Merchant of Venice and Othello were set in Venezia; The Taming of the Shrew in Padova, or Padua as he would’ve known it exclusively back in the day, as well as Two Gentlemen of Verona, and more especially Romeo and Juliet, being world renown, and singularly the main draw to Verona for the post Baz Luhrman movie backpack brigade. Verona will be another city having a rest from the maddening crowds, especially in its narrow main shopping thoroughfare, which can get too congested.
Despite its rich history, its sumptuous cities and predominantly well off citizens, Veneto isn’t a hotbed of calcio success. Hellas Verona’s stunning Serie A title in 1984/85 remains the only Scudetto for the region, with Padova in 1957/58 and Venezia in 1941/42, both claiming lofty club highs of finishing third. These remain the only other two occasions any of the clubs from Veneto got close to another gong. Even in the Coppa Italia, Venezia’s success during the clubs heyday at the start of the Second World War in 1940/41, and Lanerossi Vicenza’s great victory in 1996/97 remain the only two Coppa successes for Veneto. The Vicenza win was the last time the region had anything to celebrate, 24 years ago now. It was all the more remarkable, given just six years earlier, my first game in Veneto was watching Lanerossi at a jam packed Romeo Menti stadium nervously overcome Prato to merely force a play off to avoid the drop to the fourth tier! They rather promptly pulled their socks up, even making the semi-final of the Cup Winners Cup in ‘97/98, beating Chelsea 1-0 in the first leg at home, and leading 1-0 at the Bridge before a dubious offside denied them a potentially unassailable lead, before a late collapse saw the Blues progress to the final 3,2 on aggregate.
The majority of the population in the region, and the most fabulous cities all sit on a near straight line connecting two of the three “V’s” of Veneto at either end of the region Venice and Verona. On this trip we’ll start in Venice and head west dotting in and out of the straight line to encompass places and teams of interest.
If you have never been to Venice (or Venezia as it’s known in Italy), as long as the city isn’t flooded, you are in for a wonderful experience. There is nowhere like it, the uniqueness of the canals instead of roads makes it an extraordinary city, coupled with its exquisite architecture and lavish buildings. Whether you arrive at Marco Polo airport and head into the city by water bus, or your train pulls in at Santa Lucia station, at either arrival point, you’ll be at the water’s edge within minutes. It is possible to walk from the railway station to the football stadium, and if time is on your side, it would allow you to revel in many of the iconic places en route. The Rialto Bridge, Piazza San Marco and the Bridge of Sighs can all be visited and you are still headed in the right direction towards the ground. After you leave Piazza San Marco, out by the main waterway, you can only turn left, and if you follow the route along the water’s edge, across innumerable small bridges gradually the tourists dissipate, and when the trees of a small park start to curve to the left, you are heading to Sant’Elena island, connected by another small bridge, and home to Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo where Venezia play. The regular boat bus services will take you to near the stadium, but with the docking, loading and unloading of people, especially on the grand canal, don’t expect to get to the stadium by boat or walking in less than an hour. Walking will take longer if the pavements are full of slowly ambling tourists, but you wouldn’t arrive in Venice to rush anywhere, glory in its splendour. I would always suggest buying a ticket for the boat back into town before the game, if you are headed back that way, as it will save you at least one queue. If the away fan base is considerable in number, you can sometimes see a small car ferry recommissioned from the route to the Lido taking them in a job lot from the bus station to the ground. It is certainly an extraordinary sight.
The Penzo is as maritime as you’ll ever find a football stadium. From the top of the terracing at either end, or opposite the main stand you’ll see masts and boats constantly sailing by. People often cite Arbroath’s stadium as being right by the sea, well that might be more exposed to the rigours of the North Sea, but the Penzo drops straight to water behind its away stand with a little marina. It’s a compact 7,450 capacity, large enough for Serie B, but it also hosted top flight action in the ‘90’s when Venezia were last in Serie A, when an own loan Alvaro Recoba was the star. Rumours continue to circulate that a new purpose built stadium on the mainland near the airport is coming, and given the club is now owned by the once CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, it adds to the notion that things might happen, but so far nothing has come to pass, and given the pandemic they can be forgiven for that. Survival mode is key for all clubs at this time. So if you want to watch Venetian football in the “classic” setting of the fabled water city, you still have time to schedule a visit post virus to see “i Lagunari” (the lagoonal ones).
As touched on earlier, the greatest period in the clubs history came in the early ‘40’s with a two legged Coppa Italia success over Roma in ‘40/41, with a third placed finish in the league the year after. Two of this successful squad would subsequently move onto play for the great Torino side that was wiped out in the Superga plane crash above the city in 1950. Building on the success in the early ‘40’s with a war going on was never going to be easy, and the ill timed moment of success fits nicely into a history of wild extremes in terms of the clubs CV right from the start in 1907. The club’s history has been a veritable game of snakes and ladders, but sadly with a host of financial issues and botched mergers, they have encountered too many snakes for anyone’s liking.
Despite the lack of the clubs loyal following this season, 20/21 is looking relatively promising as they sit in a promotion play off slot at the time of writing and they have been there for the majority of this troubled season. A return to Serie A has always been the dream, and Pippo Inzaghi was in charge in September 2017 tasked with getting the club promoted when I pitched up at the Penzo to watch a resurgent Parma float off with a narrow 1,0 win in Serie B encounter. Pippo’s failure to get the club up a level ultimately resulted in him parting company with Venezia, and while the hype has died down, the resolve and determination to get back to the top flight very much still exists with “i Leoni Alati”, the winged lions- symbol of the city as well as the club.
Just across the lagoon is the mainland town of Mestre, or Venezia-Mestre as the railway station would have it. That name was also one of the club names for the Venetian football team during one of its difficult previous lives when they essentially usurped Mestre calcio and merged the names. Mestre have subsequently become a fiercely independent club and in more recent years when they stepped up into the third tier, a requirement to use another ground as their own wasn’t fit for Serie C purposes, instead of knocking on the door of neighbouring Venezia, they went to Portogruaro a considerable distance further away. It was a bold move, one that doubtlessly hindered the level of support at home games, and that resulted in the club suffering financial issues once more. They are in Serie D now having relinquished C status due to an inability to pay the required “Bond”. Back in the fourth tier they are once again able to use their compact 2,000 capacity Francesco Baracca stadio in the Mestre.
Also in D from the northern reaches of the region are Belluno, a side that seems quite happy to be at this level, but they have enjoyed 9 season’s in Serie C, but the last time was 2003/04. Between Mestre and Belluno you will find the city of Treviso, another attractive town, as well as one of three Veneto airports for arrivals together with Venezia and Verona. The local football club might ring a bell from the early 2000’s when they were regulars in Serie B, culminating in a one season only top flight appearance in 2005/06 season, when along with Ascoli they were promoted to replace Torino and Genoa whose financial and fraud issues saw them demoted. They were given very little notice to get a properly organised quality squad to challenge properly, and despite some encouraging results they were back in B by season’s end. The financial hit from attempting to stay in the Serie A hampered the club for years, and saw them limp on in Serie B until things became unviable and the club went bust. This was a proper liquidation and Treviso fell all the way to the sixth tier. More than a decade on, they have only made it briefly to the fifth tier before dropping back to where they restarted. Continual trials and tribulations of 6th tier struggles seems incredibly hard to take for Treviso, left jousting at such a low level. A lesson for all clubs to keep the finances on the straight and narrow, but Treviso, along with Varese and Ancona in Italy are a trio of clubs that should be at a much higher level. In the case of the demise of Treviso it did seem to coincide with Professional rugby coming to the town in the form of Benetton who play in the Pro 14, with both clubs sharing the 10,000 capacity Stadio Omobono Tenni.
Back on the straight line from Venezia to Verona, the next stop after Mestre on the train line is Padova. The great old stadium Silvio Appiani used to be a cracking day out as it is right in the centre of the city near the Prato Della Valle, Europe’s second biggest square after Red Square. Padova is a truly beautiful city. While my memories of Padova were two cracking matches at the Appiani stadium in the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s, the club has moved out to the Euganeo, a good distance from the city. If you are observant from the right hand side of a train headed in the direction of Vicenza, you can see it sat out in the middle of a flat plain well away from any built up area. And that is the issue with the Euganeo in a nutshell from a visitors perspective. Unless you know the right bus to catch (but even these don’t stop right at the ground), have hired a car, or blagged a lift, it’s a tricky place to get too. I had the pleasure of a little tour of the stadium a few years ago, but I was denied my first game here by virtue of a TV rescheduling quirk. It is a sizable place with a capacity of 32,420, a stadium fit for Serie A.
Padova Calcio has on occasion visited the top tier, and a third place finish in the late ‘50’s was the highest position they have ever achieved. The great Bela Guttman managed the club for a season in the early ‘50’s, but in those early days he tended to hang around for no more than a season at any club. He might even have been an early Marcello Bielsa, getting the best of the players for a period of time, but eventually his obsessive training routines tired the legs and the team’s performance would drop off. In the ‘90’s the club made a few trips to the top flight, but following bankruptcy in 2014 they’ve fought their way back as high as Serie B for the 2018/19 season, before dropping back immediately to the third tier, but they are competing near the top once more for a potential quick return to B.
Just a little north of Padova is the charming town of Cittadella. The local club are a bit like Sassuolo and Chievo, with all three being in the vanguard of the new brigade of well run clubs in Italy, and while Cittadella continue to knock on the door of making it to Serie A, they remain the only one of this trio of clubs yet to make it all the way. They are perennial playoff hopefuls, a bit like Brentford maybe, they always seem to come up short. The Pier Cesare Tombolato stadium in the town has been buffed up to allow Serie B calcio, but should they ever make the leap to Serie A they can always go back to sharing the Eugenio with Padova, where they needed to play initially when they were promoted to the second tier.
South of Padova on the line towards Bologna is Rovigo, home to Delta Rovigo, who play Belluno and Mestre in Serie D. I caught up with Delta at nearby Ravenna a few years ago when both clubs were vying for promotion. The Emilia Romagna side won the day, and Delta remains a solid fourth tier side. The 3,500 capacity Francesco Gabrielli is more than adequate for Serie D.
Back on the westbound train from Padova, the next stop is Vicenza, yet another truly fabulous city. The recent sad passing of Paolo Rossi perhaps helped put the city on the map again, as this was his home and Lanerossi Vicenza were his club. Despite playing elsewhere, Vicenza were always Paolo’s team. Another famous son of the city was the architect Andrea Paladio, whose buildings can be found throughout the old walled part of the city. It is considerably less busy than any of the other major cities in Veneto, but that adds to the feel of real Italy and a more relaxed atmosphere.
The Romeo Menti stadium is a little distance through the old city if you are doing the tourist gig ahead of a game, or turn immediately right as you come out of the railway station and after about a mile and half walk you’ll see the floodlights. It always has the feel of a British stadium with the stands and terraces close to the action. Vicenza are a well supported club, and I have always loved my visits to watch games here, albeit the last two were goalless draws versus Ancona and more recently against Imolese. The Ultras give it their best no matter how poor the action might be in front of them, which adds colour to the dourest of games.
That old snakes and ladders analogy is worthy of consideration for Vicenza too, albeit it has been played out exclusively between the top three levels of the Italian game, but on more than one occasion they dodged going lower solely by the skin of their teeth. The giddy highs I covered earlier in the piece when they won the Coppa Italia could be within touching distance once more as the club is now run by the owner of Diesel Jeans. Their influence on the club has boren immediate dividends seeing Vicenza promoted back to Serie B last season, with the fans dreaming of Serie A on the schedule again someday soon. History has shown they tend to take two ladders of back to back promotions before hitting that pesky snake! While it has been a slow start to the new season, a standout 3,0 win at Brescia in the first game of 2021 was a statement win, with the hope making the Serie A play offs isn’t beyond such a talented squad.
A nearby little town called Legnago play host to a club known as Legnago Salus who are debuting in Serie C this term putting them up to 6th place on the roster of all Veneto clubs in terms of league status this season. A bit like Wycombe, Cove or indeed Spezia in Italy, they are all clubs playing at a higher level for the first time without fans presently. It is hoped that Salus can maintain C status so that their fans can enjoy the experience, even if it is next season before fans are allowed back.
The final destination is the second city of Veneto, Verona, whose population is just a few thousand less than Venice at 256,000. Unlike Venezia, where they struggle to keep one club going, Verona has three clubs, who are nicely sprinkled through the top three tiers. As a city, Verona is high on the tourist “must do roster” with that fabled balcony drawing an inordinate number of visitors. The perfectly intact Roman Amphitheatre is absolutely amazing, a venue for opera and concerts when the world isn’t governed by a virus. Piazza Bra by the Arena is a nice place to relax and watch the world trot by in one of the innumerable bars and restaurants, but for me the real gem is Piazza Delle Erbe, which just drips history, as well as having a fine array of restaurants too.
The calcio clubs of Verona are headlined by Hellas, the solitary club in the region to have won a Scudetto back in 1984/85, when they finished four points clear of Torino, Sampdoria and Inter, certainly a curious final table. The club continued to compete with the glitterati of Serie A for a few years, but invariably it all fell away spectacularly, culminating with dispensing with Maurizio Sarri when they were rock bottom of the third tier. Fortunes improved marginally after his sacking, but only enough to survive a play off to avoid the drop to the fourth tier, similar to Vicenza in 1990. Had either of these clubs slipped into the fourth division their history might have taken an altogether darker twist. Pleasingly, Hellas have found a richer vein of consistency in the last couple of years since getting back to Serie A, and last season saw them edging towards a return to European competition, and the same script is being played out this term.
While the cat’s away, in this case when Hellas was struggling to find a foothold in any given league, Chievo, a wee mouse from the suburbs of the city, moved in to fill the void. For a number of year’s the city of Verona had a new “best” team, and the dynamic might have altered over a period of a generation like in Genoa with Sampdoria now rubbing shoulders with the much older and more celebrated team with the city name, and getting similar sized crowds. Prior to the rise of Chievo, the Hellas Ultras came up with the notion that if the wee team ever finished higher than them “donkey’s would fly”. Chievo grabbed the moniker with both hands, and the Flying Donkeys were born! Not only did they regularly finish above their city slickers, they beat them too, and even managed to qualify for Europe, an amazing feat for such a small club. Alas the hallow has slipped from being a well organised outfit, as a few years ago an accounting inflation of a transfer fee with Cesena was exposed. It was enough to see the previously solid Emilia Romagna club go bust, and leave Chievo hamstrung by a 15 point penalty that proved insurmountable in the pursuit of another Serie A season. As they slipped back to B ahead of the ‘19/20 campaign, Hellas won the promotion play offs to cross with the Donkeys, and as a Hearts manager once famously coined, and got duly slaughtered for suggesting, following his sides win over Hibs, “natural order was restored”, in this case in Verona. Italy needs a strong Hellas, and come to think of it a strong Lanerossi Vicenza too, Veneto is too big a region to have such impoverished representation at the top table.
Both clubs play at the fabulous Bentegodi, a wonderful, unusually designed interior of a stadium which is like a three tiered wedding cake! It is about a twenty minute walk from the railway station, but perhaps longer from the city centre courtesy of the city walls, which mean you essentially have to head towards the railway station to get across to the stadium. A Hellas game will give you a more full on experience, but if you want quiet but friendly, Chievo’s much smaller crowd atmosphere will deliver for you.
The last club on our Veneto tour is the Veronese third tier club Virtus from the Borgo Venezia area of the city. They play at the miniscule Stadio Nocin (capacity 1,200), a ground just ten minutes along the road from the Bentegodi stadium. They are enjoying a second spell in the last decade in the third tier but given the tight competition for fans already in the city, Serie C might be the height of their achievement for now.
So there you have it, a gentle trek through Veneto and it’s leading football lights. The combination of culture and calcio is high in this region, washed down with a substantial glass of the region’s famous Pinot Grigio white wine on occasion and you’ll be sure to have a belter of a time in this fantastic part of Italy.
Football Adventures with James Rendall 