Vanilla Beans and Brodo by Isabella Dusi

Author:Isabella Dusi [Dusi, Isabella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781471134814
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

CHAPTER ELEVEN

In the End the Ball is Always Round!

Montalcino’s green and whites are a passionate football team with like-minded tifosi, fans, who, with a history of predominantly verbal but occasional near-physical abuse at games, are something of a disappointment to some citizens. Others describe their displays as being akin to passive violence. Luigi goes along with this description and dismisses the iron-caged walkway to assist the referee and opposition back to the dressing-rooms as purely a sensible precaution. Thus, when his football friends Zampa and Illiano asked why he doesn’t bring me to the games he mumbled that yes, I did like football – in fact I had attended a home game earlier in the season – but the reason I had not been going was the 4-degree temperature. Now that spring was here, he assured them, I would come. At the earlier game I met Laura from the vegetable shop. She didn’t have her hair striped green and white that early in the season and was with her friend, also called Laura. I felt quite comfortable, because many women from the village support the team. Their shrill voices are frequently piercing the air, encouraging our players or, just as frequently, screaming unintelligible words at the referee, because in their eyes he rarely gets it right.

On several self-indulgent Sunday evenings recently I have been sitting snug, sipping an aperitivo in Fiaschetteria and watching cars speed recklessly into the piazza, horns blaring, green and white ribbons streaming behind, with several young people leaning halfway out the windows, screaming: ‘Abbiamo vinto, abbiamo vinto! We won, we won!’ They race twice round the walls and dash in and out of the piazza before Andrea catches up with them. By this time their subtle message has let everyone know the team has triumphed in their away match.

Luigi is a regular supporter at both the home and away games, but is particularly happy when the game is on our campo sportivo directly below the fortress. An absolute gem, the ground looks over the hunting woods in one direction, with views to the eastern mountains in the other, and has a sturdy undercover grandstand, much grander, he says, than that possessed by many rival teams. The fans are gripped in football fever at the moment because our team is building on a thrilling climb which began four years ago. In a few short years the squad has risen through three divisions and this season is winning enough matches to be contenders for the coveted Coppa Toscana, the Tuscan Cup, a tremendous effort for a small village like Montalcino. Qualifying games are played amongst all the football clubs in Tuscany, including those in higher divisions than Montalcino. Little by little, surprising everybody, including the sports editor of La Nazione in Siena who has been praising the determination of the squad, our team has been creeping closer and closer to a dreamed-of position in the Coppa Toscana, consistently winning matches. With enthusiastic encouragement from Luigi, I agree it is time I roused my interest in Italy’s national passion.

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