Calcio Storico as a Tourist

Hefty

New member
I am planning a 2023 BIG trip to Europe and one of the center pieces is I want to be in the Piazza di Santa Croce for one of the matches. What do I have to do in order to make that happen?

Can I buy appropriate gear and dress up to support a team? or is that frowned upon?
 
Ciao Hefty,

A BIG trip in 2023 sounds awesome, make up for all that we have missed over the last year and a half, right? ;) How long will this trip be total??

To ensure you have Calcio Storico as a possibility, first step is to make your vacation in Florence (or in Tuscany) fall on or around June 24th. The final is always played on that day (pandemics aside, of course!).

The hard part will be tickets -- often they go on sale the during the week before, and you can only buy them in person so the way to make sure you do get tickets is to be here the week before. So I'd say be in Tuscany from the 16th/17th or so and up to the 24th. You can divide time between seeing other parts of Tuscany with being in Florence, not just on the 24th of June.

I hope this helps at least in setting up some of your travel plans. Keep in touch as time goes by so that we can see how the game and sale of tickets goes in 2022.

As far as dressing up, most local fans dress in their team color and paint their faces in that color as well. The sections for the teams become that color. While the players have a sort of costume, they really play in a t-shirt or shirtless.... so as far as appropriate gear, considering it is June and warm, I don't think you want to overthink it or get overdressed. Only the people in the historical parade get dressed up in Renaissance period costumes.
 
I plan to be on the continent for a month or two so no problem being around early enough to get the tickets. I plan to visit Urbino, Rome and Venice so I can treat Florence as my Italian base of operations.
 
Wonderful! 1 or 2 months is a good time to see lots and to take your time to really explore and experience Italy. Florence will also be a great base to visit those cities as well as Tuscany ;)
 
Hi. I'm in the UK and writing a book about sport which will be released in 2023, one chapter is about the history of Football around the world (including China and South America), as part of that, I would like to be in Florence for a Calcio Storico game. When searching, I found your (Lourdes) article on the sport, and it led me here.

I can do all the things you mention above to try to get to a game this year; but can you think of someone who I might be able to contact, so that I can find a historian who can tell me more about the sport? Do you know if there are ways for journalists to get access? Also, do you know are there any museums or places in Florence where I can learn more about Calcio Storico?
 
Ciao James,

The local expert on Calcio Storico in particular is Michele Pierguidi - here is his FB page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100042121196752 - since he's the president of the Calcio Storico Fiorentino Association! I think it would be best if you try to contact him and see if he's available or can offer someone else to talk to you. His email is presidenteq2@gmail.com (he's also president of one of "quartieri" in Florence).
Journalists definitely can request access, I'd go through him as well since all requests have to go through his organization. The people who participate in the parade in costume will likely all know lots about Calcio Storico, so I think you can always ask him for assistance as well.
 
Hi! The information for the Final match is very helpful, but I am interested in the semi final matches (actually a big Rossi fan!). Do you know when the teams are selected for the date of the semi final match and when are tickets are available for that match? Thank you!
 
YES! The teams are selected on Easter Day, but the official dates are not "officially" confirmed until start of June, but more or less it's always about 1.5/2 weeks before the final. Looking at the calendar, I would say the semi-finals will likely be the 10th/11th of June. You can buy tickets the week before the matches, and only locally. Not online anymore.
 
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