The ONLY, for HEALTHY reasoning , reason to look into La Spezia is the Alessandro Lea Renaissance Museum. This yawning is a quiet 90,000th town on the Ligurian coast, spared the historical charm of other similar Italian towns by the zeal of allied aircraft during the Second World War (its goal was the Italian navy deployed here). In the museum, do not miss the masterpiece “The Appearance of the Madonna to Dominican Monks” in the 6th hall, to the left of the “Crucifixion” of Perugino and the spectator dozing on the chair. The pearl of Cinquecento - so, I think, the caretaker would have described the picture if she woke up.
Leaving this excellent museum shortly before the appearance of Juventus in La Spezia, I saw something very similar. The city woke up from an afternoon nap and somehow visibly revived. The Italians are known for their ability to create a crowd and excitement by the efforts of three to four people, and at the Jolly Hotel, to which the black and white Juve bus approached, they gathered about four hundred. The cordon could not cope with its task, and at some point two girls hung on one of the first Gianluiji Buffone, who stepped into the crowd, at once hanging, demanding at least autographs. The goalkeeper of the world champions during his tour of the Italian province seems to get used to such tricks. Without visible irritation, he adorned several sheets stretched out to him with sweeping murals, which allowed a group of partners led by Camoranesi and Nedved to enter the hotel. And then, having waited for a hitch with a fountain pen, Buffon, under the cries of "Gigi, Gigi!"
Tickets for the match “La Spezia” - “Juve”, put out for sale a week and a half ago, were sold out within an hour, and the price of the most expensive of them reached 300 euros. “Now I would have to pay three times if I hadn’t caught on time. Still, Derby, ”literally bouncing with joy, Paolo tells me, a full-bodied middle-aged man, owner of a sewing machine shop. Paolo shows me on his mobile video shot through someone’s head in which Alessandro Del Piero takes a sports bag from the trunk of a bus, and this is insanely touching, but what does the derby have to do with it, I don’t understand. “Naturally, derby,” Paolo insists. - We have half of the city - fans of “Bianconeri”, and only the second half - for “La Spezia”. We even have a 50-50 division in our family: unlike my wife and me, the children are sick for Juve. ”
Juventus is NOT JUST A 27-time champion of Italy and a 9-time winner of various European cups. This is the most popular, by a wide margin, club of the country, which is considered their favorite by a third of Italians who are not indifferent to football. According to various sources, Juve has from 12 to 15 million fans in Italy - more than in England with Manchester United or in Germany with Bavaria. Most of the “Old Signora” tiffozi live in the province, and the tour organized by Juve by an Italian court to atone for the sins of Luciano Modgi more and more resembles the American Beatles tour in 1964. Almost all away matches of “Bianconeri” with equal right can be called home. Absolutely all sold out, and before and after - enthusiastic girlish tantrums, like I saw at the Jolly hotel. In Ravenna, an additional platform was built for the visit of the “Old Signora”. Three roads were paved in Piacenza. The tiny stadium of Crotona, in Calabria, is flanked by the hospital building, and any Italian newspaper is happy to tell you stories about the endless stream of patients on the day of the Croton match with Turinians. “There were no tickets even on the black market, and this match could only be seen from hospital windows,” explains Fabio Vernano of La Stampa. Together we look at the headline on the front page of the local newspaper La Spezia, "Il partida del Secolo" - "Match of the Century." And Fabio assures that in absolutely all regional publications the same ones are composed for the arrival of Juve.
For a century, “Spices” - also “Bianconeri” - there were definitely no such matches. This team only got out of the C series last season, and its place in the second Italian league is still 16th. On the chest of the Spice players, however, champion badges flaunt. A couple of years ago, an Italian court, bored, obviously, without football processes, appointed this team the champion of the country-1943/44. The tournament won by Spice in the war years was recognized as a national championship.
“We carefully prepared for Juve’s visit to La Spezia,” says Giuseppe Valentino, vice president of the Ligurian club. “The locker room was repaired: they hung two mirrors in it, installed a massage table and fixed the door, which had never been closed before.” “Two mirrors” - for some reason, he especially noted. How, how, then: it’s not good for the nation’s idols to go out on the field with their hairstyles not perfected. Giuseppe Valentino does not speak about Mogigait readily, without disapproval of Juve, rather with sympathy: “If someone believes that Italian football has become sterile clean by switching all the arrows to Moggi, he is mistaken. By the way, do you know that the head of Telecom Italy, with the indirect participation of whom Moggi decrypted telephone conversations, is an Inter fan? "This scandal is predetermined by the political situation that has changed with the departure of Berlusconi, and that's all."
It begins to seem to me that the vice president of Spezia belongs to the 50% of the city’s residents who support Juve.
“17 years ago, the Pope came to La Spezia, I was still in school at that time. And it was like Juve’s arrival, ”recalls the smiling carabinier Ciro. Distinguished guests visit La Spezia infrequently, and on the day of the match the police blocked off half the city. “Right uphill, right behind the school, and there, bypassing the port,” Ciro explains the road to the stadium, confusing me with his gestures. Pretty soon, however, the need for his instructions disappears - just focus on the movement of the black and white crowd. When I got to the stadium an hour and a half before the start of the match, I wondered where all these people were going: the 11-thousand-strong stands were already completely packed. Somewhere in an hour there are no seats left even on two giant port cranes overhanging the podium, and the seller of paraphernalia collects his folding table, since all the T-shirts with the inscription "I was there" have already been sold. The Juve fan base is also crowded, mainly by fans from La Spezia and the surrounding area, and not from Turin. Black and white standards “Pisa” and “Cagliari” are clearly visible on it, and a little higher - the poster “Moratti, real champions - champions of the B series”. At the moment the teams go out for the warm-up, it is easy to see that the number of boys serving the balls exceeds all reasonable standards, and one of them takes Del Piero to the phone again.
In the stands of the Spices, they deploy a gigantic banner “Thank you, Buffon, for the World Cup” and something encouraging for his team: “It's still 11 to 11”. Another banner says “Benvenuti al Bernabeu di Serie B” - “Welcome to the Bernabeu B-Series” and “Santiago Bernabeu”, the stadium is quite quiet, could be proud of this comparison. Local ultras draw in a slightly mocking song on the Beatles motive Let it be, in the chorus of which one can clearly hear “series B, series B”, in response to which the first firecracker is blown up on the platform of Juventus. Tiffosi “Spices” also have firecrackers, and then there is such a wave of explosions that they probably have not heard in these parts since the Second World War. By the beginning of the match, the pitch was hazy by the characteristic character of Italian football.
If you think leadership in Serie B is given to Juventus simply, think again. Or ask Pavel Nedved, who was so kicked in the legs before the break, that his Genoese breakdown began to seem excusable and understandable (in the match against Genoa, he attacked the judge with his fists and got a 5-match suspension). In the second half of Nedved, after a head-on (literally) collision with an opponent, they came to life with the help of ammonia - but the owner of the Golden Ball -2003 again restrained himself from responding rudeness. If you see even more composure in Juve next season in Serie A, don't be surprised.
“Spice” stubbornly fought, plastered in tackles, completely justifying the pre-match statement of 32-year-old leader of the hosts Simone Cantalfone: “For each of us, this is a match of our whole lives.” Cantalfone himself, despite his nose broken in a match two weeks ago with Vicenza, went out onto the field with a frightening face shield that made him look like Hannibal Lector. At the 45th minute, a cry of joy burst from under the mask, raising the stands to their feet: “hanging” the Juve defenders in the air, Cantalfone closed the flank canopy with his head - 1: 0.
In the second half, “Juve” rushed to the attack and missed some more dangerous counter-attacks - but Buffon even in series B continues to justify his reputation as the best goalkeeper in the world. In the 80th minute, as a result of the removal of the Dzhannikeda, Turin remained ten men, but it was after this event that the initiative was completely expropriated. By the 93rd minute in the stands, it seems, they were already discussing what kind of monument to Cantalfone should be sculpted on the occasion of a historic victory - with this Hannibal mask or not, but the ball was again with Nedved. The Czech was distant and not too strong, but with some very evil blow drove him into the net - 1: 1. If you see even more will in Juve next season in Series A than before, don't be surprised.
Despite a 9-point penalty imposed by the court, Juventus remained the leader of the tournament. With the final whistle, several Spetsia football players collapsed on the ground with fatigue, the rest rushed to the Juve leaders for souvenirs. Nedved gave his T-shirt to one of the hosts, but refused to take someone else's in return. At a post-match press conference, Turin coach Didier Deschamps complained about a clumpy and narrow field, “where it is easier to defend than to attack”, and the fact that the judges have never given a penalty kick to the opponents' net for the whole season. It is likely that the Italian court also made a decision about a penalty kick against the rivals of the “Old Signora”, but did not announce it publicly.
When Gianluigi Buffon appeared in the guest area of the stadium (which is also the room for press conferences), Giuseppe Valentino, the vice president of Spice, kindly chatted with me, fell off to get an autograph. I just remembered the joke about David Beckham, who, signing autographs, waved a contract with the Yaroslavl “Shinnik”, but did not have time to tell him: Signor Valentino, shamelessly abusing his official position, was already screwing into the crowd surrounding Buffon. “This is for my son,” he later explains to me, introducing himself to his 10-year-old child in the Spice baseball cap and Juve scarf. Giuseppe Valentino looked at the same time a man who received everything from life: a draw with the most popular club in Italy, Buffon's autograph. And another 300,000 euros from ticket fees: so much "La Spezia" earned for the first time in its history. And, probably, in the last.
EVENING IN THE CITY - I heard this for the first time in my life - there was a repeat of the broadcast of this match. Everybody seemed to be wrapping spaghetti on forks in restaurants and trattorias, affected by the radio-announcing cries of "Fantastico!" And "Mamma mia!" Where I was having dinner, at the height of the discussion of the match at the next table, the cook came out of the kitchen and, wiping his hands on the apron, joined the debate. “All of them here, in series B, need to be sent:“ Juve ”,“ Milan ”,“ Inter ”,“ Roma ”... - bending fingers white with flour, the chef shared his recipe for removing calcareous from the current turmoil. - Everyone! If not all together, then individually, one per year. And then they go on tours in Asia, America ... Let Italy raise football better. "
In the concoction, judging by the magical linguines with pesto that I got, the cook understood better than in football, but there was definitely something sensible in his words. Juventus for the year of imprisonment in the second league will significantly lose in income (according to various estimates, from 60 to 90 million euros). And great win in cheerleader love.