Italian football as a vehicle of identity From urban elites to mass culture
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The historical evolution of football in Italy is deeply intertwined with the country’s socio-political and cultural dynamics, making it a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. Initially an elite pastime among the northern urban aristocracy and bourgeoisie, football only became a popular sport after World War I, eventually serving as a propaganda tool under the Fascist regime. The choice of the term “calcio”, in contrast with the more widespread “football”, represents a symbolic case of constructing an autonomous linguistic and cultural identity. During the Fascist era, the sport was subject to a systematic ideological operation aimed at legitimizing Italian symbolic superiority and consolidating political consensus. Furthermore, football acquired a dimension of national cohesion while simultaneously expressing local identities, becoming a lens through which to interpret regional and social dynamics. In this essay, the author critically examines the historical trajectory of Italian football, its transformation into a mass phenomenon, and its role in shaping a collective imaginary, with particular focus on its political instrumentalization and the enduring significance of its symbolic meanings.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Funding data
References
AA.VV. (1973). 75º anniversario fondazione F.I.G.C. 1898-1973. Roma: FIGC (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio), pp. 4-5.
Almanacco illustrato del Milan (1ª ed.). (1999). Modena: Panini. (Tabella introduttiva alle stagioni).
Anastasi, M. (2017). Fascismo, sport e identità nazionale. Gli stadi di calcio come veicolo di propaganda. In Persistenze o rimozioni. Il passato del presente: usi e abusi della storia nella costruzione delle identità collettive, Università degli Studi di Siena, 4-5 maggio 2017. Siena: Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche e Sociali.
Belloni, E. (2014). The birth of the sport nation: Sports and mass media in Fascist Italy. Aloma: Revista de Psicologia, Ciències de l'Educació i de l'Esport, 32(2), 53-61.
Bredekamp, H. (1995). Calcio Fiorentino: Il Rinascimento visto attraverso i suoi giochi. Genova: Nuovo Melangolo.
Canali, M. (2019). Starace, Achille. In Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (Vol. 94). Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
Cante, D. (1996). Propaganda e sport negli anni Trenta. Gli incontri di calcio tra Italia e Austria. Italia contemporanea, (204), 521-544.
Carlo F. Chiesa, Calcio 2000, supplement to no. 22 (Milan, August 1999), 124. The negotiation caused considerable uproar, representing a highly resonant episode in the context of the football transfer market of the time. The complexity of the negotiation with the player's original club and the magnitude of the financial offer were at the center of attention. The proposed contract, which included a payment of 100,000 lire, supplemented by a monthly salary of 8,000 lire, a Fiat 509 car with a personal driver, and a villa located on the hills, was particularly high, well beyond the typical salary standards for footballers of that period. The exceptional nature of the financial conditions offered, in a context where the professionalization of football was still in its infancy, made the negotiation a case of great interest for the press and the public opinion, intensifying the debate on the growing role of money in the world of sport.
Consiglio Regionale del Piemonte. (2024, ottobre). Il Quadrilatero del pallone (I Tascabili di Palazzo Lascaris, n. 102). Torino: Consiglio Regionale del Piemonte.
Cristiano, L. (2023, March 17). Calcio e fascismo, storia dei primi due Mondiali vinti dall'Italia. Catenaccio e Contropiede. Retrieved from [Accessed 2025, 14 August]: https://catenaccioecontropiede.it/mondiali-italia-1934-1938-fascismo/
D'Angelo, G., & Fonzo, E. (2016). Sport e Nazione nella storia d'Italia. In E. Mangone (Ed.), Adolescenti e sport: Trasformazioni sociali e pratiche motorie (pp. 23-42). Collana Sport, Corpo, Società. Milano: FrancoAngeli. Since the 1960s, football has become the most popular sport in Italy, almost monopolizing public attention and acting as a powerful vehicle for the nationalization of the masses. Specific moments of collective emotion, such as the World Cups of 1970, 1982, and 1990, have helped to strengthen the sense of national belonging through the matches of the national team, which have become true collective rituals.
De Core, F. (2020). Mondiali 1982. La rivincita: Dalla polvere alla gloria, il trionfo dell'Italia [E-book EPUB]. Diarkos.
De Ianni, N. (2015). Il calcio italiano 1898-1981. Economia e potere. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino.
Elmer, D. F. (2008). Epikoinos: The ball game episkuros and Iliad 12.421-23. Classical Philology, 103(4), 414-423. https://doi.org/10.1086/597184 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/597184
Fabrizio, F. (1976). Sport e fascismo. La politica sportiva del regime, 1924-1936. Firenze: Guaraldi.
Fabrizio, F. (1977). Storia dello sport in Italia. Firenze: Guaraldi.
Ferrari, D. (2022, July 9). Il Mondiale dell'82 fa parte di un inconscio collettivo. C'eravamo tutti. Il Foglio. Retrieved from [Accessed 2025, 14 August]: https://www.ilfoglio.it/sport/2022/07/09/news/il-mondiale-dell-82-fa-parte-di-un-inconscio-collettivo-c-eravamo-tutti-4199776/
FIGC. (n.d.). In Enciclopedia Treccani. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. Retrieved from [Accessed 2025, 14 August]: https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/figc/
Fonzo, E., & Landoni, E. (2022). Storia e storiografia dello sport durante il fascismo. Storia dello Sport, 4, 1-6.
Galluzzo, A. C. (1995). Breve storia del Calcio Fiorentino. Firenze: Gallorosso.
Giorio, M. B. (2019). La scultura fascista di soggetto sportivo tra bellezza e propaganda ideologica. Italies, (23), 65-80. https://doi.org/10.4000/italies.6979 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/italies.6979
Giovannelli, F. (2017). Guida al Calcio Storico Fiorentino. Firenze: Angelo Pontecorboli Editore.
Gunnell, T. (2012). The relationship between Icelandic knattleikur and early Irish hurling. Béaloideas, 80, 52-69.
Huesca, R. (2003). Alfred Wahl, La balle au pied. Histoire du football. Paris, Gallimard, coll. Découvertes, 2002, 144 p. Questions de communication, (3). https://doi.org/10.4000/questionsdecommunication.7571 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/questionsdecommunication.7571
Jusserand, J.-J. (1901). Les sports et jeux d'exercice dans l'ancienne France (pp. 1-7). Paris: Plon.
Landoni, E. (2020). Propaganda and information serving the Italian sports movement: The case of the periodical Lo Sport Fascista (1928-43). Journal of European Periodical Studies, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.21825/jeps.v5i1.15754 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21825/jeps.v5i1.15754
Martin, S. (2008). Calcio e Fascismo. Lo sport nazionale sotto Mussolini. Mondadori. The Fascist regime institutionalized football as the "Fascist game," using it to build a national identity and as a diplomatic weapon to assert Italy's presence on the international stage.
Massi Vino. (2020, April 9). I primi cinquant'anni del calcio in Italia. Enrico Brizzi racconta il pallone tricolore, dalle sue origini fino al Grande Torino. Rivista Contrasti. Retrieved from [Accessed 2025, 14 August]: https://www.rivistacontrasti.it/trilogia-calcio-italia-enrico-brizzi/ Although Genoa, founded on September 7, 1893, is traditionally recognized as the oldest Italian football club, the first concrete organized football experience took place in Turin. In 1887, Edoardo Bosio, a Turin-based employee who met British sporting culture during work stays abroad, founded the Football & Cricket Club Torino, considered the first structured football association in Italy. The team wore red and black striped uniforms with white collars and caps, following Anglo-Saxon models. In 1889, Luigi Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of the Abruzzi, promoted the foundation of a second city team, Nobili Torino, composed of members of the local aristocracy and recognizable by their yellow-blue jerseys. The two teams merged in 1891 to form Internazionale Torino, which elected the Duke of the Abruzzi as president and adopted a garnet jersey in homage to Sheffield F.C., historically recognized as the oldest club in the world. Among the players was Herbert Kilpin, originally from Nottingham, who would later find the Milan Football and Cricket Club, precursor of A.C. Milan.
Miller, S. G. (2004). Arete: Greek sports from ancient sources. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Pacileo, G., & Gargano, P. (2006). 80 anni di passione: La storia del Napoli dal 1926 al 2006 (p. 114). Napoli: Il Mattino.
Padovano, A. (n.d.). 1893 vs. 1897: Le origini. Retrieved from [Accessed 2025, 14 August]: https://web.archive.org/web/20150627040948/http://genoacfc.it/genoa-c-f-c/1893-1897-le-origini/
Panico, G., & Papa, A. (1993). Storia sociale del calcio in Italia. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Pivato, S. (1991). Lo sport nella società di massa. In G. Rumi (a cura di), Trasformazioni economiche, mutamenti sociali e nuovi miti collettivi, 1920-1960 (pp. 90-105). Milano: Electa.
Pivato, S. (1994). L'associazionismo del tempo libero nella cultura socialista: i ciclisti rossi. In D. Mengozzi (a cura di), Associazionismo e culture del tempo libero nell'Italia contemporanea (pp. 281-293). Milano: Unicopli.
Polverosi, A. (2002). Arpinati, Leandro. In Enciclopedia dello Sport. Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana.
Porro, N. (2004). Le metamorfosi del calcio come fenomeno sociale. Quaderni di Sociologia, 34, 9-18. https://doi.org/10.4000/qds.1132 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/qds.1132
Rossi, F. (2003). Sport e comunicazione nella società moderna. In Enciclopedia dello sport. Roma: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana.
Rossi, L. (2018). Lo sport nei campi di prigionia durante la Grande Guerra. Ammentu - Bollettino Storico e Archivistico del Mediterraneo e delle Americhe, 1(13), 284-293.
Sanino, M., & Verde, F. (2015). Il diritto sportivo (4ª ed.). Padova: Cedam.
Santangelo, R. (2020, March 17). L'Italia è grande: il quadriennio 1934-1938, due Mondiali e una Olimpiade. L'imbattibile Nazionale di calcio di Vittorio Pozzo. OA Sport. Retrieved from [Accessed 2025, 14 August]: https://www.oasport.it/2020/03/litalia-e-grande-il-quadriennio-1934-1938-due-mondiali-e-una-olimpiade-limbattibile-nazionale-di-calcio-di-vittorio-pozzo/
Sconcerti, M. (2009). Storia delle idee del calcio: uomini, schemi e imprese di un'avventura infinita. Milano: Baldini Castoldi Dalai. October 26, 1863, marks a fundamental date in the history of modern football. On that day, thirteen delegates from eleven clubs, including those from Eton, Westminster, and Harrow, met at the Freemason's Tavern on Great Queen Street in London. The purpose of the meeting was to establish a common set of rules to standardize the way the game was played and to facilitate matches between different clubs. After a heated debate, two distinct disciplines emerged from the meeting: rugby and football. Concurrently, two separate sporting organizations were founded, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Football Association (FA). This event is officially recognized as the birth of modern football.
Spadafora, M. T. (2012). Diritto del lavoro sportivo. Torino: Giappichelli.
Stretto, M. (2015). Introduzione. In Siamo tutti tifosi del Milan. Milano: Delos Digital.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (n.d.). Le Olimpiadi dei Nazisti: Berlino, 1936. Holocaust Encyclopedia. Retrieved from [Accessed 2025, 14 August]: https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/it/article/the-nazi-olympics-berlin-1936
Vidiri, G. (2002). Il lavoro sportivo tra Codice civile e norma speciale. Rivista italiana del diritto del lavoro, pp. 52-55.
Vinnai, G. (1970). Il calcio come ideologia. Bologna: Guaraldi.
Wahl, A. (1989). Les archives du football: Sport et société en France (1880-1980). Paris: Gallimard.
Wahl, A. (1990). Et mai 68 des footballeurs français. Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire, (26), 73-82. https://doi.org/10.3406/xxs.1990.2971 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/xxs.1990.2971