Absolutely Abruzzo

To be finished over the weekend ……

The diverse and large region of Abruzzo might not be amongst the hotbed areas for calcio, but it certainly packs a lot in. From mountain ski resorts to lengthy coastal beaches, as well as terrific historical towns, it’s just about got it all. The big fish is the capital Pescara, maybe the only club those not immersed in Italian football could immediately trot out from Abruzzo. I have written about Pescara and her team previously. However, a weekend sojourn, towards the end of the season, was going to be entirely more niche, but would you expect anything else from your writer? .

The key driver to one last trip to Italy for 2025/26 was the Coppa Italia Eccelenza Final (tier 5-The FA Trophy equivalent if you will) which was being played in Teramo in the Abruzzo region where My “wee” Italian side AS Bisceglie had reached the final. I had already been across to see my “big” Italian side (they’ll both be in Serie D next term!) Ancona, who lost the Coppa Italia Dilettanti (Serie D essentially- tier 4) to Pistoiese in March. With my Scottish team, Inverness Caledonian Thistle collecting the League One title, your glory hunting correspondent was still craving more silverware, from a unique trio of events!

Cup competitions in Italy are quite odd. The main one the Coppa Italia features all of Serie A and B, plus a limited number of high finishers in C. It’s set out like a nauseating tennis ladder, seeded to within an inch of its life, with the early rounds played in August when they largely are just glorified friendly matches to the smaller sides involved at the outset. No one really gives a hoot until maybe the last 8, by which time we are almost certainly into an exclusive Serie A selection. Curiously, Ancona in 1994 were the last non top flight side to reach a final, and Alessandria, a third tier team at the time, were the last small team to reach a semi-final a decade ago now. 

This is the only cup competition open to sides in A and B. Serie C has its own competition between the 54 sides at that level. Winning the trophy gives the successful club a serious leg up in the end of season promotion play offs. Potenza claimed the gong this season and while finishing 10th would normally see them enter in round one, they can skip two rounds and get involved in the third round instead. Serie D, a much bigger beast, with nine leagues of 18 clubs also has its own competition that starts off regionally, then opens into a national competition, culminating in Ancona losing both legs to Pistoiese as previously intimated. I had started the season at Citta di Fasano v Gravina in Puglia’s second round (an FW feature), so it was fitting to see it through to the end.

Indeed, in the same article about Fasano, Brindisi v Taranto was included and all the farce that went with this tie. That was round 1 of the Coppa Italia Puglia, at the Eccellenza level, a competition which Bisceglie eventually won, edging out Taranto in the final. That then meant that the White Stars as they are known entered the national competition “southern” section, playing three rounds (2 legs a time) versus sides from Campania, Calabria and Lazio (dramatically on penalties in the semi) to progress to the final against the winner from the “northern” area, albeit this term, a team from Marche, which is just north of Abruzzo. The small village of Montecchio Gallo, who conquered the mighty Alessandria in the semi, also won their league. This is crucial, as Bisceglie finished a distant second to Brindisi who went unbeaten all season in the Puglian league. However, playing a team who were already promoted in the final meant Bisceglie were going up too! This final was just going to be one big party, and perhaps allow for a more relaxed approach, but both sides would want the accolade of the cup win. 

Teramo

Sitting well off the coast sandwiched in between mountains of Gran Sasso D’Italia is the small city of Teramo, population 52,000. It sits at the confluence of two rivers, with the terrain and climate in the surroundings making it the centre of high quality vines for the wine trade. Abruzzo is famed for its red wines especially. 

The name Teramo (pronounced Tera-mo) comes from manuscripts back in the day where it was called Teramne, but seems to have also carried the name Aprutium, as documented by the Geographer of Ravenna! Now that’s a grand title! The Normans had a hold of it for a while, then two local families squabbled over it in the Renaissance period, with 13 members of the Melatino family to this day commemorated in the city shield displayed in the centre of town. The Spanish came and conquered, but sold the city to the Duke of Atri, a chap the locals obviously didn’t like as it sparked a huge rebellion. Amid all the anger and squalor, an earthquake hit, and then the plague, no luck whatsoever! Napoleon took ownership for a while, before the King of Naples brought it under his wing following an arrangement with the French. Things all calmed down when Italy united and became a country (but this is, even today only really on paper in truth). In 1925, perhaps given all that went before, Teramo was home to the first Italian Psychoanalytic Society. I can imagine that many couches were needed!

There would be one last troubled passage of angst, when the Germans arrived and soon departed after the resistance saw them off at the Battle of Bosco Martese. Once all had finally calmed Teramo hosted the first ever Handball World Cup in 1972, and opened its now prospering University in 1993.

In a footballing sense, the local side are a somewhat sleepy affair, reaching Serie C occasionally is as good as life gets. Ancona in particular has a beef with the Abruzzo side. In 2014, I was at Del Conero on a very sad night, when Teramo condemned us to fourth tier football (we went further down due to bankruptcy) amid volleys of smoke bombs and discontented home fans. The name Teramo was etched, née seared into my mind, I had unfinished business with this mob! I hatched a plan to head back to Ancona to see these two play in April when our paths crossed once more. Alas, the occasional lunacy of Serie D sees matches played at 3pm on a working day, and with my buddy working almost until kick off and the stadium many kilometres from the city, and with no specific buses running out there, I decided to head elsewhere. Maybe just as well, Teramo won again, a result that scuppered the promotion dream once more.

Right at the start of the season, when visiting San Benedetto Del Tronto, game two of my Italian campaign was meant to be a local derby in northern Abruzzo between nearby Giulianova and Teramo. They hadn’t played each other for many a year, therefore the demand was high and the local authorities, despite not allowing away fans, weren’t for opening up the away sector for home fans, another mad decision from the Italian bureaucracy. Details of when tickets would be available were both slow and non-existent. The promise of the remaining briefs going on sale in a nearby outlet never materialised online, so we gave up and de-bunked to Pescara instead. For the record, Teramo gave their coastal upstart neighbours, and newly promoted rivals a real thrashing 4-1. Literally no one in the ground, save the Teramo staff would have been thrilled by that result. Given the pretty terrible communication and selling tickets without letting the social media platforms get involved was pretty shabby in my book. I smiled at the result.  

Despite all this, Giulianova was where I decided to base myself for the weekend. It’s a lovely beach resort town, from where a local train is headed inland and upwards to Teramo, taking 35 minutes. 

The stadium, the match…….

Chieti

If anyone watches some of the Walter Presents foreign drama offerings on Channel 4, you might have watched Rocco; The Ice Murders which is set in the Aosta region, way up in the  North West of Italy. It’s a long way from Abruzzo, but one of the “comedy” detectives in this show was always the butt of jokes for coming from this region, complete with his Chieti pennant hanging by his desk. 

The other thing that has always drawn me to Chieti FC is the kit. If you ever played football at primary school, do you remember the first shirt colours you wore? Ours was green and black stripes. Only a small number of clubs play in these colours, Nueva Chicago in Argentina for sure, Pordenone in Italy as well, but somehow Chieti’s stripes, being narrower, are more akin to the shirt I associate with my first ever competitive game of football for Wardie Primary School is Edinburgh. 

I know that Chieti has a loyal following, albeit that was being tested quite seriously this term. The match I was headed to watch was a one off game known as a Play-out, where home advantage of finishing slightly higher meant that Chieti had the advantage of the draw, should it arise. Defeat and they’d sink into the Abruzzo Eccellenza, crossing over and missing the chance to go toe to toe with a sleeping “giant” of the region, Lanciano.  

From Giulianova, it was a coastal amble down to Pescara, then another train inland once more landing in Chieti, a mere 6 kilometres off the sea. In Latin, the town is known as Teate, and to this day people from here are referred to as Teatini. Chieti is one of the oldest places in the country, along with Matera further south in Basilicata. 

Depending on whose mythology you follow, it might have been founded by Achilles, named in honour of his mum, Thetis, or by those clambering away from Troy. Either way, its founding is attributed to the Greeks, with Chieti the chief town of Theate Marrucinorum region. Artefacts have been found dating between 850,000 and 400,000 years ago! Traces of old settlements go back 5,000 years, and more recent Roman temples a nod to how things progressed. 

In the Second World War it was declared a “free city” and was largely unharmed by fighting in and around the region. There was however a notorious prisoner of war camp, where conditions deteriorated so much, Chieti even entered a debate in the UK Houses of Parliament regarding shortages of food and warm clothing to survive the winter. Many of the camp staff were subsequently arrested for War Crimes at the end of the war. 

Modern day Chieti with 49,000 inhabitants is just slightly smaller than Teramo…….

The stadium is a good 30 minute walk ………