Motorcades, people plunging
in the fountains, crowds dancing in the streets, cars
honking everywhere... It's not the revolution, it's
Roma winning the Italian football championship again, after
18 years!
The Italian football championship is
considered the most complex and hard to win. All the
best international players and trainers participate
in it.
The northern teams of Milan (Inter and
Milan) and of Turin (Juventus) dominated in the past,
however recently the teams of Rome ("Lazio" and "Roma", archrivals between themselves) are doing well.
Although Lazio was the first team to be founded in Rome (1900) and Roma
was founded only in 1922, it is the most popular team of the Eternal
City. Dubbed "La magica" (The magic), it is specially
the team of the working class. Its strongholds are in
fact the quarters Testaccio and Trastevere.
Fan dressed as Roman soldier
Fans in the fountains
of Piazza del Popolo
The joy and the celebration of the last victory was memorable:
one million (!) people celebrated in the streets with
the yellow and red flags of Roma. There were all sort
of fans and people dancing in the streets: grannies
with infants, fans dressed with all sorts of garments,
even dogs had the Roma shirt on! The joy is even greater
as Roma defeated Juventus (the team which won more
titles), but above all the archrivals "cousins" of Lazio,
who will be scoffed at for one full year.
The celebrations went on nonstop for one week, with
motorcades, fireworks, concerts, and shows.
A proud fan of Roma.
The final event was a concert with
Antonello Venditti, one of Rome's most popular "cantautori" (composers
who sing their own compositions), and other artists
who are fans of Roma (including actress Sabrina Ferilli who
kept her promise to strip-tease, and Claudio Verdone)
at the Circo Massimo (the ancient Ben Hur carriages
track), with one million fans attending. The atmosphere
was extremely joyful and poetic, as Roma is truly
dear to the very imaginative and sweet hearts of
the Romans.
