Over the last two pandemic hit season’s, my subscription to Eleven Sports in Italy and with the fabulous catalogue of choice from the entire fixture card of Serie C (third tier) to watch, it became a vital escape from the rigours of keeping loved ones safe, as well as continuing to nurture dreams of a life with travel and stadio visits in my mind. When the time came to plan a trip, Grosseto might not have been top of my list, but something drew me here and it probably had a lot to do with the club’s exploits just over a decade ago.
Tucked away in the south west corner of Tuscany, Grosseto might not be a city you are overly familiar with, but like all places in this historic region of Italy, it has its charms. The most famous entirely walled city in the region is undoubtedly Lucca, but here in Grosseto they too have a Centro Historico (historical centre) encircled by a wall.
I had been visiting Benevento in Campania the previous day of my trip, but unfortunately the timing of the finish of that game, coupled with the distance to the railway station, didn’t allow me to head directly for Grosseto that evening. An early start the following day wouldn’t have worked either, as a 14.30 kick off meant no train, complete with a need to change at Roma Termini, would have got me to the stadium in time, especially complicated if I had nowhere to lose my luggage for a few hours. So I settled on a night in the capital, before heading north the next morning, always a reluctant thing to do these days as merely being the capital seems to give licence to charge double or more for everything.
By way of further escapism during the pandemic, I decided to set up a football Instagram page, (can_chas if you are interested). I have a heap of keepsakes from matches over the years, and it seemed a nice way of sharing as well as reminding both myself and anyone viewing them that travel was merely on pause. This exercise has worked a treat and has afforded me some great new friends from nearby and further afield, most notably Uruguay (another of my lands), as well as Italy of course. One of these contacts, Fabrizio and his wife, Giada decided that they would love to head south from their Livorno home that Sunday with a view to meeting me and sharing that afternoon’s Tuscan derby. It worked fabulously, as the chat was incessant as if the three amici (friends) had known each other a long time, rather than a matter of hours. This is what football does, it brings people together, the shared passion for the game opens doors in conversation into other fascinating areas too. We have a lot in common, with the monied end of football getting a right old bashing! Tales were relayed to his wife about the day I got locked into their beloved Picchi stadium in Livorno. Dear goodness, that was merely four years ago, a Serie B fixture, and now Livorno are on the cusp of getting back into Serie D, the fourth level having been further down, what topsy turvy period for Gli Amaranto, the dark reds. Bankruptcy? Yip, you called it right!
Grosseto is 14 kilometres inland from the Tyrrhenian Sea in a particularly flat area of an otherwise undulating Tuscany. Unusually for this region the city seems entirely flat, although from the top of the curva where we would take in the football action, the rolling hills are not too far away. With a population of just over 82,000, Grosseto is surprisingly big. The historical centre is certainly small, but being a traffic free zone is a wonderful thing, and only the occasional bicycle might disrupt your walking here. All roads lead within the walls to the Piazza Duomo (main church square), and a great variety of bars, cafes, restaurants together with shops are within the pedestrian walkways around this fine area. An hour or so of leisurely walking will allow you time to enjoy all that is worthy of viewing in the centre of Grosseto, perhaps good news for an even longer lunch if time is on your side. I was treated to a local speciality dish of duck pasta for lunch, an exquisite taste. Food is so much a part of the full immersion in Italian culture, not just calcio, and having enjoyed something similar with wild boar in nearby Orvieto previously, this dish quickly has been added to my future roster for re-visiting tasty treats whilst in Tuscany.
The history of Grosseto is important, especially in relation to the visitors for the game later. As far back as 1151 the citizens of the city swore allegiance to the Republic of Siena. Whether this was done under duress is unclear, but I suspect that this was the case as in 1222 they tried to make a break for it, and for twenty years (whether blissful or not is uncertain) they succeeded. Alas, in 1244 the Sienese were back but this time with a friendlier face, allegedly affording Grosseto the chance to share the spoils of Siena. It then became an important stronghold, albeit the Sienese weren’t involved in constructing the walls of the city, an undoubted flaw in their plan. There’s a 22 year theme going on here, as in 1266 they tried to get away again, unsuccessfully of course but demonstrating the sharing in the riches part had been a ruse. That failed attempt forced them to sit on their hands for nearly a century, doubtlessly plotting away in the corners of the town I am sure, before making yet another futile attempt for freedom. The constant occupation, non-stop ravaging and even an excommunication by the Pope were all fates that befell the city, but just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, pestilence reduced the population to a few hundred. Siena still ruled for another two centuries until 1555, when a chap known as Charles V handed Grosseto over to the Medici family from Firenze. Whether it was out of the frying pan into the fire seems unlikely as the new owners quickly set about building the fortifications that you see today. They even drained the swamps around the city, allowing farming to commence just outside the walls. All very progressive stuff and people friendly too, so Medici would doubtlessly be welcomed back if he was still around with open arms, unlike the Sienese. I love stories like this, it adds value to the narky, mistrustful nature of one settlement to another in modern day Tuscany. Some of the historical wrongs involved in this paragraph would be given credence amongst the songs at the stadium, more later.
US Grosseto have been going as a club since 1912, but largely they have been a sleepy lower league outfit. That was until Piero Camilli came along in 2000 and turned backwater Grosseto into a near sensation, taking i Grifone (the Grifones, see badge) on an unbelievable journey. This chap was the modern day calcio equivalent of the Medici, and yet it all started with a stroke of good fortune. In his first season as owner, the club finished second in their Interregionale table (then fifth tier), and with only one promotion slot available, it took an invitation to fill a spot in the next level following a bankruptcy to get the band wagon rolling, and after a couple of steadying campaigns in the fourth tier they were into Serie C1 for the first ever time. Play-off misfortune would start to become a theme for Grosseto, firstly losing a semi-final to Pavia in 2004/05, and the following season, while they won the semi against Sassari Torres, they fell at the final hurdle with Frosinone heading to Serie B instead. However, a bit like the history of the city, if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again should be the mantra, clinching the title without any need for the playoffs with a late winner at Padova on the final day to seal the title and an historic first campaign in the second tier for 2007/08. A mid-table finish and avoiding the four relegation slots was a considered success. The following season they finished 6th and made the playoffs for the top flight and even led Livorno 2-0 after the first leg. Alas the journey further up the Tuscan coast saw them lose 4-1, and the fabulous season was over, struck down once more by the curse of the playoffs. A seventh place the next season saw them just a few points off the playoff, and while they continued to be a solid B outfit, these were the clubs high points.
If history of football can sometimes imitate history of its given city, the summer of 2012 was the equivalent of a Sienese invasion as the club were provisionally relegated as the world of calcio tried to clean itself of all betting issues that were circulating at the time, under the name of Scommessopoli investigation. That 22 thing reared its head again, as on the 22nd August 2012, the club and its president were exonerated from all involvement and reinstated in Serie B. Whether a cloud was hanging over Grosseto after that summer of turmoil and the unfounded slanders, but 2012/13 was a stinker. Six seasons in Serie B were over, and they’ve never reached such giddy heights again. After two seasons in the third tier Mr Camilli sold up, and as often happens in such circumstances, when the finances stop, bankruptcy is just around the corner. That is exactly the fate that befell Grosseto, starting back from the Tuscan Eccellenza in ‘17/18.
Having fought their way up two levels, the current campaign in the third tier hasn’t been going brilliantly, and at the commencement of this derby, Grosseto were bottom, but not drastically adrift, a win could easily get them move up the table, depending on other results of course. For Siena the season was petering out in the unusual five places in the table that aren’t troubling either the lengthy promotion process or relegation playouts.
The Grosseto fans were here in force, the lower part of the home Curva was sold out within hours of tickets going on sale. A derby versus Siena is a big deal for them, but it remains to be seen how significant this match-up sits with the visiting fans as Arezzo will always be viewed as the big derby in southern Tuscany for them. The “Siena merda” (you can figure that one out!) t-shirt sellers had been doing good business, and a number in the Ultras choir were sporting such garb. Songs about the notion of how Siena had stolen their city bell was a reminder that grudges and fiefdoms are alive and well a few centuries on!
While the fans were in fine form, including welcoming a small posse from England amongst the Ultras, you could immediately see the problem for Grosseto, they had a dreadful inability to look like a team who knew each other, let alone string some passes together. For seventy minutes the Siena keeper had plenty time to recant previous invasions as he was purely a spectator. That said, while Siena could make a few passes themselves, my goodness they looked slick, it soon became clear they weren’t going to be very good at breaking down a resolute defence, and that aspect of the game was where Grosseto excelled. This one had a goalless draw written all over it from the 10 minute mark, but in the last twenty minutes of the game, the shackles seemed to come off and the home side actually started to look like a team. They created a few near things, but when the ball came off a forwards ear rather than his head, it might have caused the closest thing to a goal all day, but you could see why they have only managed 28 goals. A midfielder had two long range efforts, and they might have done more than trundle along the ground had he had a stronger muscle in his leg. They all shook on a 0-0 draw, but there was no sign of any bell being duly returned!
A point ultimately didn’t prove good enough for Grosseto, as less than a fortnight later another blank at home sent them down. The final blow was delivered by another Tuscan side from the aforementioned wall city of Lucca, Lucchese. Grosseto now drops into Serie D, or Dante’s Inferno as one Italian friend describes the fraught nature of the 9 regional 4th tiers. It will see them re-enacting that Serie B play off high with Livorno once more, albeit two leagues down, where Fabrizio and Giada will doubtlessly be in the stadium.
Stadio Olimpico Carlo Zecchini is both very close to the old walled part of the city, as well as the railway station. A walk of around 15 minutes from either will get you there, but watch out for road closures due to the visiting fans’ arrival and that can lead to a bit of a longer walk around. The train heading north from Roma (an hour and a half on an Inter-City train, or almost similar time down the coast from Livorno) will give you a clear view of the stadium to the left as the Roma train slows towards stopping at the station seconds later. With a 10,200 capacity it’s more than adequate for Serie B, let alone further down the food chain. It is a municipal facility with a running track around the pitch, making the action feel more distant. For this game, the sizable main stand was nearly full, as well as the bottom portion of the curva, which thankfully is solid concrete and doesn’t see the temporary scaffold higher area bounce with the fans. This was a fairly relaxed area to watch, and perhaps afforded the best view of action at the far end, as lower down the fences will get in the way.
Catering for the main stand seemed to be one small hut, and for the curva, it was merely a guy selling bottles of water through the fence from the edge of the running track, resulting in lengthy “queues” (more like a rabble) pushing to get a drink. Covid hasn’t done anything for clubs being receptive to the idea catering can pull in a few extra Euros at games, but it might well be regional laws for the time being causing such restrictions. The stewards had certainly been versed, and like many places I visited, they were more concerned about your Covid status than if you had a valid ticket! The locality of the stadium is predominantly residential, save for a bar across the street from the home curva, and this is where the Ultras gather ahead of and after the match.
Grosseto was a lovely day trip, you wouldn’t want to hang around for any longer than that to be honest, as despite being a nice place, it doesn’t drip in the history or architecture of it’s bigger rival, whisper it quietly, in Siena!
Football Adventures with James Rendall 